Between Heaven & Hell
by belladonna78
Summary: Sequel to "To Hell & Back", and the fifth installment of my Supernatural fanfics. Check out my stories and AN for more info on where to start. This is Season 5 -What will it take for Dean, Beth and Sam to put a stop to the Apocalypse? Will Beth lose Dean again? Dean/OC. Slightly AU but mostly follows the Supernatural show with my own spin. Rated MA for smut. Please read and review!
1. Sympathy for the Devil

**AUTHOR'S NOTES – Between Heaven & Hell (Season 5)**

This is the sequel to my previous story _To Hell and Back_ which covers Season 4 of Supernatural, and prior to that there are my stories _Highway to Hell, All Hell Breaks Loose_ _& Hell to Pay_ which cover Seasons 1-3 respectively. If you haven't read any of those yet, I suggest you start with _Highway to Hell_ because otherwise you're jumping into a story already in progress, and it will give you all the background you need to know about who Beth is and her story. (Plus, it's like several weeks (at least) worth of fun stories!)

This story picks up immediately after the end of Season 4 – _Lucifer Rising_. Sam has unwittingly opened the door to Lucifer's cage and released him into the world. Dean and Beth must now find a way to forgive their brother for choosing the demon Ruby over them, and bringing upon them the very Apocalypse that they'd been trying to prevent. Mixed in to this is a compelling story of angels and demons, destiny and choice, and most importantly the love between family.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Supernatural, it's characters or any of the storyline that follows the show itself. Any changes to storyline and addition of characters (ie. Beth  & Jefferson, just to name a couple) are all mine :)

The only OC I don't own is Cole Singer – she's a crossover from my friend EarthhAngel. Be sure to go check out her story _How To Save A Life_ for some John Winchester focused writing, plus some early Dean & Beth back story :) It's been an absolute ball collaborating on that story and there's plenty more story to come!

* * *

 _When darkness is no less than everything you've built become undone_  
 _There's no fight and no flight, disaster leaves your passion overrun_  
 _It's time to let go, it's time to carry on with the show  
_ _don't mourn what is gone, greet the dawn_  
 _n' I will be standing by your side_  
 _together we'll face the turning tide_

* * *

 **SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL**

* * *

 _ **St Mary's Chapel  
Ilchester, Maryland  
**_ **Dean's POV**

 _How the hell were we going to undo this catastrophe?_ That was the first question that ran through my head as soon as I started to see the blinding light shine from under the stone floor beneath us. Sam's panic rippled through the three of us and I grabbed both Sam and Beth, pushing them back toward the exit to the chapel.

"Come on!" I yelled, pulling on Sam who seemed glued to the spot, rooted in the horror that he'd just unleashed. Beth broke ahead of us, but as we reached the open entrance, the doors slammed in our faces. I grabbed at the door, pulling as hard as I could while Beth took the other handle, but there was no give in either. I spun around to see that the light was rising at the other side of the room.

A high-pitched noise sounded, and Beth grabbed at her ears, leaning into me. I wrapped an arm around her, pressing a hand to one ear and closing my eyes. Sam dropped to his knees at the same time we did, the noise unbearable. Not only had we opened the doorway to Lucifer's cage, we were going to die in the escape efforts. I held Beth close under one arm, the other reaching out to grasp Sam's shoulder as the sound pitched even higher.

"What the devil is your name?" Asked a little cartoon voice.

 _What?_

"Sa-Sa-Sa-Sa-Yo-Yosemite Sam," came the reply from someone else and I frowned.

"Yosemite Sam?" Asked the original voice.

 _Where are we?_

I opened my eyes, hands still holding tight to Sam and Beth, finding myself in the middle seat of an airplane row.

 _Plane?_

"What the hell?" I asked, looking around. How had we gotten here?

"What just happened?" Beth asked, sitting on the aisle and glancing down at a flight attendant who was walking along and checking if people needed drinks.

"I don't know," Sam said from the window seat.

 _I hate flying._

"Folks, quick word from the flight deck. We're just passing over Ilchester, then Ellicott City, on our initial descent into Baltimore…" announced the pilot over the intercom.

"Ilchester?" I asked, "weren't we just there?"

"So if you'd like to stretch your legs, now would be a good time to—Holy crap!"

The plane was suddenly rocked with what felt like an explosion, veering off course and sending people who weren't strapped into their seats into each other, across aisles and to the floor. Screams started, emergency lighting kicked in and my worst nightmare - the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

Beth scrambled to get mine, handing it to me, and then putting her own on, our eyes locking in primal fear of our impending doom. The high-pitched noise from the chapel was back, and Sam grabbed at my arm, pointing out the window where a blinding column of white light shot up from the ground below and then flooded the plane.

There was no doubt about it, that light was Lucifer, and somehow we'd been plucked from ground zero and placed on a plane. I stared, horrified and mystified at the same time by the light. It was Heavenly pearl white, and if I hadn't known better I might have mistaken it for a good thing. The reality however was far far worse.

* * *

 _ **Rental Car  
Location Unknown  
**_ **Beth's POV**

Dean was driving, cursing about the fact that we were in a rental, and the Impala was still at our house in Blue Earth. We wouldn't have time to go and get it, the drive alone was a good seventeen hours or more.

"—and Governor O'Malley urged calm—," a radio announcer said from the speakers. "—saying it's very unlikely an abandoned convent would be a target for terrorists, either foreign or homegrown."

"Change the station," Dean said, his mood not having improved in the last few hours.

I reached out and pushed the search function on the radio. Numbers flipped through methodically before latching on another signal.

"—Hurricane Kinley, unexpectedly slamming into the Galveston area—" I pushed the search again, waiting.

"—announced a successful test of the North Korean nuclear—," again, I changed the channel as Dean sighed, his eyes focused on the road ahead.

"—a series of tremors—"

"—swine flu—"

 _Swine Flu?_ I sighed and hit the power button, turning the whole thing off, plummeting the car into awkward and uncomfortable silence. Sam was sitting in the back seat, and he'd been mercifully quiet during the disembarking of the plane, and the application for the car rental… but I knew it was stewing away inside him - that guilt eating at him with nowhere for it to be released. It would only be a matter of time before he needed to offload on one or both of us.

"Dean, look—" It seemed that time of silence was up.

"Don't say anything," Dean said, not moving to even glance at me. Sam paused, and the awkwardness simply grew. "It's okay. We just got to keep our heads down and hash this out, all right?"

Another pause as Sam thought about this. He tended to have a bit of a self-flagellation approach to his mistakes, and in this case it was the biggest screw up of all time. No way were we going to escape with a simple "don't say anything".

"Yeah, okay," Sam said finally. Dean and I exchanged a glance, and I could see the uncertainty sitting there. He didn't know what to do, and I didn't have any answers to give him.

"All right, well, first things first—How did we end up on Soul Plane?" I asked, looking back at Sam.

"Angels, maybe? I mean, you know, beaming us out of harm's way?" Sam replied.

"Well, whatever. It's the least of our worries," Dean cut in, his eyes cutting across to me. "We need to find Cas. Anything?"

I'd been trying to contact Cas via our angel radio connection since we'd landed. He had the ability to block me if needed, and I could do that to him, but this was a situation of life and death, you would think that his vessel would at least respond to our demise. I shook my head to answer Dean's question, elaborating: "No. He's not answering. In fact… it's like he's just… not there at all." This last statement had me the most worried.

"Well that's not concerning at all!" Dean said, clearly on the same page with what that meaning was. Cas was MIA and given that when he'd left Dean, he'd been about to face down a warrior angel there to protect Chuck, and Ezekiel had felt the need to go to his assistance, the radio silence was very worrisome.

* * *

 _ **Chuck's House  
**_ _ **Kripke's Hollow**_

 **Dean's POV**

Chuck's house looked like a bomb had gone off, much the same as I remembered it being when we'd found Jimmy Novak at the warehouse . It was a catastrophe and one I didn't mind admitting worried me half to death. The living room was littered with debris from books, to pieces of computer, to chunks of furniture and fixtures from the ceiling - and blood, a heck of a lot of blood. Where the hell was Chuck, and Cas? Hadn't there been an archangel protecting Chuck?

A noise sounded behind us from the kitchen, and I spun around, looking for the source. It could have been anything, I was jumpy and it showed. Beth was picking her way into the hallway, Sam just a little bit ahead of her.

"Ahhh!" Came a cry from the hallway and I looked up just in time to see Chuck smash a toilet plunger over Sam's head. Sam stumbled back, grabbing at his head and I chuckled, grateful that it wasn't me copping the attack for a change.

"Geez! Ow!" Sam exclaimed and Chuck stepped out into the archway separating hall from living room.

"Sam?"

"Yeah!" Sam confirmed, shaking his head.

"Hi Chuck," Beth said. Chuck's gaze swung around the room and he nodded first toward Beth and then at me.

"So...you're okay?" He said finally, looking at Sam.

"Well, my head hurts," was the reply.

"No, I mean—I mean, my—My last vision…" His eyes widened with shock. "You went, like, full-on Vader. Your body temperature was one-fifty. Your heart rate was two hundred. Your eyes were black."

"Your eyes went black?" I asked.

Sam looked back at me and shrugged. "I didn't know."

I sighed, not even wanting to think about the implications of that knowledge. How demonic was Sam when he was high on demon blood? We knew it was bad, but I'd never considered that perhaps he'd go so far with his powers that he'd turn into a demon.

"Where's Cas?" I asked, changing the subject for the moment. One crisis at a time.

"He's dead. Or gone. The archangel smote the crap out of him. I'm sorry," Chuck answered, looking sadly at me.

"You're sure? I mean, maybe he just vanished into the light or something," I questioned. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Oh, no. He, like, exploded," Chuck negated, "Like a water balloon of chunky soup."

I grimaced at the visual, and Beth started to look a little green around the gills. Sam stepped closer to Chuck, taking a closer look at the prophet and I watched him reach up and wave at his ;eft ear.

"You got a…"

Chuck mimicked his movement, his hand waving at his right ear. "Uh...right here?"

"Other side," Sam said, indicating on his own head.

Chuck felt around, his facial expression changing to horror when he same into contact with something hard that was lodged in his hair. "Oh. Oh, god." He tugged at whatever it was and held it up. "Is that a molar? Do I have a molar in my hair? " He looked at it. "It is," he confirmed, and I wondered if he was going to faint. "This has been a really stressful day."

Beth had moved, I saw her pull out a knife and slice the palm of her hand, stepping behind a door that was half open in the archway leading into the hall. I smiled; at least one of us was thinking about the fact that Chuck was likely being watched. Which of course would have been the case when we came here looking for Sam.

"Cas," I muttered, feeling partly responsible for his demise. "You stupid bastard."

"Stupid?" Sam asked. "He was trying to help us."

I nodded. "Yeah, exactly."

"What about Ezekiel?" Beth asked suddenly, looking at Chuck.

"Who?"

"Ezekiel, the angel who was with me," she replied. Chuck shrugged, turning to look at her. She'd moved her hand out of his line of vision, and now I was starting to get the heebie jeebies, expecting to be ambushed at any moment.

"I didn't see him in my vision," Chuck replied.

"You saw Beth at the chapel though?" I asked and he nodded.

"Well yeah, but I don't know how she got there, or who she was with," he paused, looking harder at Beth. "You're really okay?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't I be?" She asked, a small frown marking her forehead.

"Well…" He started to tell her about how she hadn't made it in his vision and I decided that was quite enough of that.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about, why wouldn't you be?" I said and Chuck mercifully stopped talking.

"So, what now?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. I had just started to think that the angels had abandoned Chuck when he cursed.

"Oh, crap."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I can feel them," Chuck replied.

"Thought we'd find you here," sounded the voice of Zachariah, and I turned around to see the round faced baby with wings standing in the kitchen with two others accompanying him. I took a few steps back toward Beth, and realised that we were in a standoff - the four of us one end of the living room, the three of them at the other end.

"Playtime's over, Dean. Time to come with us," Zachariah said.

I pointed at him, giving him my best intimidating look. "You just keep your distance, asshat."

I felt Beth reach out, her hand resting at my lower back, just keeping reassuring contact. I kept my mind on the goal here - to get some information from these dicks before blowing them to kingdom come. I focused on her touch and allowed it to calm me down from the homicidal rage I was feeling whenever I looked at the angel. Zachariah looked at me, a placating expression on his face.

"You're upset."

Was he crazy? _Of course_ I was upset. "Yeah. A little. You sons of bitches jump-started judgment day!" I snapped.

"Maybe we let it happen. We didn't start anything," he argued, pressing the semantics. "Right, Sammy?" He winked at Sam and I felt the blood begin to boil in my veins.

"You two had a chance to stop your brother, and you couldn't. So let's not quibble over who started what. Let's just say it was all our faults and move on. 'Cause like it or not….it's Apocalypse Now. And we're back on the same team again."

Beth scoffed, a half laugh escaping her mouth. "Is that so?"

"You want to kill the devil. We want you to kill the devil. It's...synergy," Zachariah pointed out.

"And we're just supposed to trust you?" She asked. I could feel her hand trembling slightly where it was touching me. I knew from experience that she wasn't scared, she was furious and it was taking everything she had to stop herself from lashing out further.

"Cram it with walnuts, ugly," I said. So it wasn't my best insult in the world, but it worked.

"This isn't a game, son," the angel said, his face turning stern. "Lucifer is powerful in ways that defy description. We need to strike now, hard and fast—before he finds his vessel."

"His vessel? Lucifer needs a meat suit?" Sam asked.

"He is an angel. Them's the rules," he said with a smirk. "And when he touches down, we're talking Four Horsemen, red oceans, fiery skies—the greatest hits. You can stop him, Dean, but you need our help."

"You listen to me, you two-faced douche," I said, seething inside. "After what you did, I don't want jack squat from you!"

Zachariah's face started to get red and he took a few steps in our direction, his frustration evident as he opened his mouth. "You listen to me, boy! You think you can rebel against us? As Lucifer did?" He paused, looking down at Beth's hand which she'd previously had behind the wall, but dropped to her side.

"You're bleeding," he said, and she smirked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, yeah—a little insurance policy in case you dicks showed up," I said with a smile, nodding at Beth. She slapped her hand against the wall and the angel banishing sigil she'd drawn behind the door.

"No!" Zachariah cried out before being sucked into a blinding flash of light.

"Learned that from my friend Ezekiel, you son of a bitch," Beth said coldly.

"This sucks ass," Chuck muttered when we turned around to look at him.

* * *

 _ **Regent Inn Motel  
**_ **Pittsburg, Pennsylvania**

Beth's POV

We were on the move again, not having any idea where to start or what to do. We'd started to head back North, and Bobby was collecting the Impala from Blue Earth and bringing it to us. With the Jehovah's Witnesses out there looking for us, and who knows what other manner of spies, we'd stuck to larger cities: Pittsburgh our latest stop over as we started to make our way back toward the Midwest.

I dumped my duffel on the bed and started to pick through it for dirty clothes. There was a laundromat down the street, and I had to keep busy, or my mind was going to implode. Once I'd made a decent pile of clothes next to the bag, I unzipped Dean's bag and started going through it.

"Whoa whoa whoa… what you doing?" He asked, looking up as he stepped out of the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. He was doing the same thing. The only time Dean loitered in the bathroom was when he was stalling for time on something, trying to keep busy, or in the mood for sex and preparing to bring his A game. The look on his face told me it was not the latter.

"Laundry," I said.

"I think it can wait, don't you?" He asked, turning to spit out toothpaste into the sink.

"Well, we're waiting on Bobby to get here with the car, and the lore books, I'm going crazy Dean. I need something to focus on. I'll get some laundry happening, and I saw a church down the street, I might start going through some books there," I replied. He was listening, still going through his routine of leaning down to drink from the tap, tipping his head back and gargling loudly as I sorted through his clothes. He walked out of the room and starting to fiddle with a couple of guns on the table.

"Yeah, okay, I get your point, but…" Dean was cut short as the motel room door jerked open and Sam came walking in, looking over at us standing in the middle of the room, mid-sentence.

"Hey," I said and Sam smiled.

"Hey," he said, closing the door and pulling a couple of things out of his shirt. He tossed one of the items to me, and then one to Dean, waiting for us both to examine our new possessions.

"Here. Hex bags. No way the angels will find us with those. Demons, either, for that matter," Sam explained and I turned the small sachet of fabric over in my hand, noting that it was well made, packed tightly with the herbs and other ingredients.

"Where'd you get it?" Dean asked.

Sam hesitated for a moment, looking at Dean and then me. "I made it."

"How?" I asked, curious. Another pause, and this time Dean looked up from the gun he was checking over.

"I… I learned it from Ruby," Sam confessed. I nodded, looking down at the hex bag. Of course he would have picked up some tips from the witch as they hung out together, it made sense. _I don't have to like it._ I struggled internally with my anger for Sam's actions and my overwhelming compassion for how it felt to be between a rock and a hard place, and make a difficult choice.

Dean put his gun down and took a few steps in my direction, looking at Sam. "Speaking of," he said curiously. "How you doing? Are you jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?" Dean's lack of subtlety was well known, but it was particularly difficult to hear when you were on the receiving end of one of his chastising speeches. Even though that was a question made out of concern, there was the undercurrent of frustration and judgment in his words. I could see Sam struggle for a moment with it, but then he made a mental decision to push it aside.

"I-it's weird. Uh, tell you the truth, I'm fine. No shakes, no fever. It's like whoever...put me on that plane cleaned me right up," he said with a shrug.

"Supernatural methadone," Dean commented.

"Yeah I guess," was the reply. Sam looked from me to his brother, and I could practically see the cogs turning away in his mind. He needed to talk, he needed to get the reassurance he'd always wanted and needed as a child from the two people he trusted most. But, as always, he didn't know that now was not the time.

"Dean…" Sam started and Dean sighed softly, turning away as the younger man started to talk.

"Sam…" I said, cutting in and reading Dean's mind for him.. "It's okay. You don't have to say

anything."

Sam nodded, taking in what I said and looking toward his brother who was in a closed stance right now, hunched over a chair by the table, his back to us.

"Well, that's good. Because what can I even say? "I'm sorry"? "I screwed up"? Doesn't really do it justice, you know? Look, there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right…"

"So why do you keep bringing it up?!" Dean snapped. Sam sighed and the prior spun around, his eyes flashing with both hurt and frustration. "Look, why do we have to put this under a microscope? We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it."

Sam said nothing, glancing at me while I tried to smile reassuringly at him.

"All right, so, say this is just any other hunt. You know? What do we do first?" Dean asked dismissively.

"We'd, uh, figure out where the thing is," Sam provided and I nodded, pulling my Bible out of my bag and placing it on the bed. I was still going to do laundry, but it would wait.

"All right. So we just got to find...the Devil," Dean continued, and I felt a stab of uncertainty eat at me with that statement. How on earth were we going to accomplish what seemed the impossible?

* * *

 _ **Regent Inn Motel  
Pittsburgh, PA**_

 **Dean's POV**

Sam had turned to the journals. He had Dad's and Patrick's on the table and was rifling through them. So far he hadn't come up with a lot of information on the Devil. Apparently even Patrick hadn't delved too much into that.

Jefferson had fallen off the radar, something about needing to go undercover, and that was disturbing the hell out of all of us. Beth kept checking her phone about a dozen times an hour, but there still hadn't been any news from him - he was maintaining radio silence.

"How would you then explain an earthquake, a hurricane, and multiple tornadoes, all at the same time, all around the globe?" An interviewer asked on the TV and I sighed. They'd cut our soap opera to broadcast 24 hour news following a series of catastrophic events.

"Two words. Carbon emissions," replied the idiot environmentalist who was on the interview panel. I snorted and clicked the remote, changing the channel.

"Yeah, right, wavy gravy," I said, and Sam chuckled from over at the table. Beth was looking at her phone for the tenth time this hour. I had her curled up to me, her head on my chest, and it felt good - at least something felt like it wasn't a mess.

"He could be gone for weeks, babe. He'll get in touch when he gets in touch, you're not gonna miss the call."

Beth sighed and deliberately put her phone behind her on the table, rolling back into me and wrapping her arm around my chest.

"I know," she grumbled, squeezing me firmly. "But I'm worried."

"You think he wasn't worried when you were galavanting around trying to get me out of Hell?" I asked and she looked up at me, sighing.

"Oh shush."

I chuckled and leaned down to kiss her, tenderly caressing her lips which she returned with a slight smile and little moan that I loved so much. After a few moments we broke apart and she smiled again.

"Thanks."

"For what?" I asked, genuinely confused by the question.

"For keeping me sane," she commented.

She unwrapped herself from me and climbed off the bed, walking toward the bathroom. _Good idea._ I groaned and called out to her.

"Hey, go for me too?" I asked and at least that got a laugh out of the girl.

"Standing or sitting?" She quipped back and I chuckled while Sam shook his head in amusement.

Beth disappeared, shutting the door, and then there was a knock at the motel room door. I looked at it with a frown. It was too soon for Bobby to have arrived, and we weren't expecting anyone else. I grabbed my gun, glancing at Sam who had stood and was advancing on the door. He checked with me and I nodded once before he looked through the peephole at whoever was out there.

His face was one of confusion as he opened the door, revealing a jittery little virginal girl with long blonde hair wearing a cardigan and long skirt that hit below her knees. I quickly put the gun behind a pillow, but my finger never left the trigger, after all demons could be in anyone.

She stared at Sam, and seemed to be having a little trouble breathing, Sam realised it at the same time.

"You okay, lady?" He asked and she finally spoke.

"Sam… is it really you?" She asked, glancing into the room at me then stepping a little closer to Sam, laying a hand on his chest. "And you're so firm."

"Uh, do I know you?" Sam asked.

She pulled back, smiling devotedly up at my little brother who was looked back at me with a shrug. His guess was as good as mine.

"No. But I know you. You're Sam Winchester. And you're…" she peeped around Sam to look at me and I raised an eyebrow in her direction. "...not what I pictured. I'm Becky." She pushed past Sam into the room and I had a moment to wonder just what had she pictured when thinking about me… no wait, better question: _why was she picturing me?_ Who the hell was this chick?

"I read all about you guys," Becky said, "and I've even written a few…" She stopped, glancing down as a blush crept across her face and she giggled. What was that about? Beth opened the bathroom door, stepping toward our bed, a questioning look on her face.

"Beth? Oh my god, you're beautiful!" Becky exclaimed when she saw her. I smiled.

"Uh, thank you?" Beth said, turning to look at me. I shrugged - my guess was as good as hers as to what the hell was going on here.

"Wow, I can't believe this. I'm standing in a room with _The Winchesters."_ Becky said, and then she looked down before grabbing Beth's left hand and looking at her wedding ring. "Wow, _the wedding ring._ Crafted from the ring that was given to Dean - his mother's wedding ring. Oh my god, that was so… so so so romantic." She was staring all moon-eyed at Beth, clasping her hand and I watched, open mouthed wondering if there was anything Chuck had left out of the damn books.

Beth extricated her hand from Becky and couldn't have looked more awkward. ""Yes… uh yes it was. Dean?""

I shrugged at her. "Don't ask me."

"I'm your biggest fan!" Becky announced with an excited laugh.

"She's our biggest fan, there you go," I said with a wave of my hand.

Beth raised an eyebrow. "Great! That's just, great." She looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else but here right now.

Sam cleared his throat, drawing the blonde's attention back to him. "Uh, so… Becky… "

"Yeah! Right," she said, nodding. "Anyway, Mr. Edlund told me where you were." This got my attention, I stood up, leaving the gun under the pillow.

"Chuck?" I asked. Sam turned to close the door that had been left open, and Becky nodded, looking at me.

"He's got a message, but he's being watched. Angels. Nice change-up to the mythology, by the way. The demon stuff was getting kind of old."

Sam paused, shaking his head a little. "Right. Just, um...what's the message?"

"He had a vision. 'The Michael sword is on earth. The angels lost it.'" Becky said, moving her hand in the air as she quoted the words to us.

"The Michael sword?" Beth asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Becky, does he know where it is?" Sam questioned.

"In a castle, on a hill made of forty-two dogs," she said solemnly.

"Forty-two dogs?" I asked skeptically.

"Are...you sure you got that right?" Beth queried and Becky nodded, keeping her eyes locked on Sam.

"It doesn't make sense, but that's what he said," she answered, stepping into Sam's personal space. "I memorised every word…" She laid a hand on his chest and Sam looked like he wanted to run. "For you."

Sam shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Beth and I as if wanting our intervention. I chuckled, this girl had some guts - I kind of liked her.

"Um, Becky, c—uh, can you...quit touching me?" Sam asked and she shook her head.

"No."

Awkward….

* * *

 _ **Later  
Regent Inn Motel**_

 **Beth's POV**

The second knock at the door for the day, and this one was expected. Dean jumped off the bed, hurrying over to open it, smiling when he saw Bobby standing there.

"Hey, Bobby," he greeted our surrogate father, hugging him and clapping him on the back.

"Good to see you kids all in one piece," Bobby said, moving further into the room and giving the beaming Sam a hug. I moved behind them, casting a look out the door before closing it behind Bobby.

"You weren't followed, were you?" I asked rhetorically. He wouldn't have been, we knew that. Bobby chuckled, turning to embrace me in a tight hug.

"You mean by angels, demons, or Sam's new superfan?" He asked as he pulled away. Sam laughed at the question.

"You heard."

"I heard, Romeo," Bobby confirmed with a smirk. He glanced at me, frowning. "So...sword of Michael, huh?"

"You think we're talking about the actual sword from the actual archangel?" I asked, and he nodded.

"You better friggin' hope so," he said, putting a thick tome he was carrying on the table and opening it. He flipped through the pages, coming to a painting of Michael surrounded by other angels. I had seen it before, a little feminine for my liking.

"That's Michael," I said, Bobby nodded.

"Toughest son of a bitch they got," he said. Sam flipped through the book to another painting, and Dean sniggered.

"You kidding me? Tough?" Dean asked. "That guy looks like Cate Blanchett."

I grinned at him. "Well, I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley, believe me. He commands the heavenly host. He has an entire Legion of angel warriors at his disposal, I've seen them myself."

"You've... seen them…" Dean said quietly. "You know we really gotta find time to talk about these missions Ezekial had you on."

"We do…" I said with a smile.

"During the last big dust-up upstairs, he's the one who booted Lucifer'fs ass to the basement. Did it with that sword," Bobby said, pointing to the sword in Michael's hand. "So if we can find it…"

"We can kick the devil's ass all over again," Sam finished. He nodded and looked happy that there was somewhere to go. "All right. So, where do we start?"

Bobby shrugged and moved to the bag he'd carried in with him. He bent down, picked up a stack of books from it, and slapped them down on the table by the other.

"Divvy up and start reading—try and make sense of Chuck's nonsense," he said.

Sam reached for a book and paused, staring at the pile for a long moment, not reaching for any of them.

"Hey, Sam, are you okay?" I asked, moving up beside him. He looked at me and I saw the anguish in his eyes. He was struggling.

"No, actually," he replied. He turned to look at Bobby, and I heard him take a deep breath. "Bobby, this is all my fault. I'm sorry."

"Sam…" I said cautiously, instantly concerned.

"Lilith did not break the final seal. Lilith was the final seal," Sam confessed.

"Sam, stop it," Dean growled, looking over at Sam with the same level of worry that I was.

"I killed her, and I set Lucifer free," Sam just wouldn't shut up, the words spilling out of his mouth like a nightmare.

"You what?" Bobby asked incredulously. I cringed, the tone instantly setting me on edge. The only thing worse than telling Bobby, to me, would have been telling John. For once I was kind of thankful that our father wasn't around to hear this.

"You guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen. I brought this on," Sam said. Dean stared, silently watching while Bobby took a few steps closer to Sam.

"You're damn right you didn't listen. You were reckless and selfish and arrogant," he said. I flinched, because I knew he was right, and I knew I should be feeling just as furious with our brother, but that was the thing. Sam was our brother, and no matter the crime, no matter the screw up, I still loved him.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, tears welling in his eyes.

"Oh, yeah? You're sorry you started Armageddon?" He asked. He frowned, shaking his head. "This kind of thing don't get forgiven, boy. If, by some miracle, we pull this off...I want you to lose my number. You understand me?"

"Bobby!" I exclaimed, not expecting that. Sam just nodded. His expression was unchanged, as if he'd been expecting Bobby to say as much. Or more, that it was the treatment he felt he deserved - he looked devastated. Dean was silent, which told me that he wasn't far off agreeing with Bobby. I wasn't surprised, he was still angry, and his disappointment would stick with him for a while.

"Bobby… come on…" I started to argue, feeling like someone should be sticking up for Sam.

Sam cut in, still looking at Bobby who was face to face and looking defiant. "There's an old church nearby. Maybe I'll go read some of the lore books there," he said.

"Yeah. You do that," Bobby encouraged and I sighed, throwing my arm up in the air. Sam turned on his heel and opened the door, leaving the motel. I glanced at Dean who was looking conflicted at the door which had swung closed. Bobby was silent, turning back to the table and taking up a book. I sighed again, and tossed Dean an apologetic smile before leaving the room myself.

Sam was walking quickly down an alleyway to the main street when I caught up with him. He didn't hear me, or if he did wasn't giving away that he was listening. "Sam, Sam!" I called out and I saw his shoulders heave before he turned away with his tortured expression that got me every time.

"I had to Beth, I can't live with that, I can't just…"

"Stop." I said, holding a hand up to him. "Just stop."

"Why aren't you angry with me?" Sam asked, and I stopped short, looking at him and feeling an enormous amount of sadness for him. "You should be furious with me Beth. You should never want to speak to me again after what I did to you. Why are you being so nice to me?!"

"Be...because you're my brother, Sam," I said hesitantly, as if I wasn't really sure of the answer myself. I felt compelled to make this right, and I couldn't explain why. I just knew that I had to. "And I get it," I added.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"I get it. I know how easy it is to get lost when you're not with the people who love you," I answered, moving closer and placing my hand on his forearm where he'd crossed it over his chest with the other. "You know, when Dean was in Hell, and you were gone…"

Sam looked pained at me, starting to step away but I held on to his arm, shaking my head. "No, Sam, just listen. I lost myself, the things I was willing to do to get him out of Hell. They were dark, they weren't right."

"But the reason you were alone is because I sided with Ruby… Ruby! Beth!"

"I know," I said with a nod, feeling my chest ache. "God knows I know, Sam. I have been trying to find a way to be angry with you. I have."

"But?"

"But I can't. I just…" I gesturing futilely in the air with my hand. "… I don't know, but whatever put us on that plane, whatever took away those cravings for blood inside of you. Maybe it took away my anger too, because I want to be angry with you Sam. I want to hate you. But I can't."

Sam looked so miserable, taking a deep breath and turning those puppy dog eyes to me. "I'm so, so sorry Beth."

"I know you are," I replied.

"Beth…" He looked as if he wanted me to punish him. And maybe that's what this family did, God knows John had done it to all of us individually and together over the years, but I wasn't going to do that. My way was harder.

"You were the first person to be honest with me, after my Dad died, and told me what was going on. You looked after me, you held me when I had those nightmares, you got me to laugh again, and it was selfless, Sam. You and Dean - both of you took me in as a sister when I was a complete stranger, but you did it without question, and I _became_ your sister because of it," I said, seeing his expression change from pain to sadness.

"So no, I know you, Sam. I know that whatever Ruby drove you to do, that's not you. That's not my brother. I told Dean months ago that we were losing you - that you were missing in spirit. And we had to find you. We lost you once Sam, I'm not about to do it again," I finished. That was the long and short of it. I knew what I was here for, I knew what I had to do for Sam now, and I was going to see it through.

"You know what?" Sam said after a moment. "Dean's right."

"He is?"

"Yeah. You're pretty amazing, you know that?" He asked. I shook my head. I didn't feel amazing.

"I'm not," I said quietly. "I'm human, just like you."

"I've done some really inhumane things Beth," Sam said and I thought about some of the demons I'd tortured for information when Dean was in Hell, the lengths I'd been willing to go to had been horrendous.

"We all have. And yet we're all still here, fighting together," I said.

"I should have never left you," Sam said, for the first time I felt as if he meant it. He'd said it to me before over the last year, but it had always been forced, like he was saying it just to keep the peace, and get things to a space where he wasn't on the outer all the time. Now it felt genuine.

"No," I said. "You shouldn't have."

"And I have some serious atonement to make up to you," he continued. I sighed, squeezing his forearm slightly and looking up at him.

"Just, don't do it again, okay Sammy? No more blood, no more turning your back on your family."

"Deal," he said with a smile and he moving his arms to hug me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed tight, waiting until I felt the moment pass and he shifted away.

"I don't deserve family like you Beth," he said softly.

"Yes you do, Sam. You do. That's _why_ you have us," I replied, looking intently at him. I had to make him understand.

"Dean's so angry at me, I can feel his disappointment in me. It's worse than Dad. And Bobby…." his voice trailed off, hanging on the older man's name.

"They'll come around, they always do," I promised, but his face looked unconvinced. He shook his head, the sadness returning to his face.

"I don't know… not this time."

"They will," I insisted. If there was anything I knew in this family, it was that we didn't let the crap get in our way of being a family. "Dean owes me big time as it is," I added.

"I can't believe he lied to you," Sam said with a frown.

I nodded quietly. When I looked back at him I shrugged. "I know he had his reasons, but again they were stupid reasons. He knew better. I didn't tell him when I knew Dad was alive because he ordered me not to, and we promised each other no more secrets. But here we are. I know why he did it, it doesn't make it hurt any less. It does make it easier to forgive."

"We need a lot of forgiveness," he commented.

"Just don't screw it up, keep working through this. He'll come around, he loves you. We both do. Okay?" I said and Sam, still looking a little dubious, nodded with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, okay," he said.

"Now come on, research calls." I said, linking my arm through his and starting to drag us toward the church.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

The first few moments following Sam and Beth's exit had been a bit tense, but once I'd gotten her text telling me that they were okay and just taking a breather, I'd settled into looking through the books Bobby had brought with him. We'd studied in relative silence for hours until now.

"I never would have guess that your daddy was right," Bobby said.

"About what?" I asked, still reading through book in front of me.

"About your brother," he said, and I will admit, I didn't like what he was saying. I looked up at him, observing his stern face.

"What John said—you save Sam or kill him. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" I cut in, wondering if my voice was giving away the sudden streak of anger passing through me. What was it with our father's hellbent on killing Sam?

"Maybe we shouldn't have tried so hard to save him," he said.

"Bobby…" I opened my mouth to start the automatic defense of Sam. I could be as mad as I wanted at him, that was the rule - I'd earned it. But other than Beth, no one else had put in the time and the energy so Sam like me, and be damned if they got to criticise his actions.

"He ended the world, Dean. And you and I weren't strong enough to stop him proper. That's on us. I'm just saying, your dad was right."

I started to argue, but then something hit me like a tonne of bricks falling out of the sky.

"Dad," I said, jumping up from the chair I was in and rushing over to my duffel bag. I knew exactly what I was looking for, and I pushed aside a few articles of clothing until I found the little ziplock bag tucked in the bottom corner. I yanked it up, starting to rummage through the various business cards, IDs and assortment of other things pertaining to Dad.

"It's got to be in here somewhere," I muttered, flipping through the cards. The weird ass code from Chuck, I had a feeling that I'd see something about Castles...

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bobby asked, standing up from the table.

"Here," I said triumphantly, standing up and walking over to Bobby, showing him the business card. "I don't believe it."

"What the hell is that?" Bobby asked, frowning at the card.

"It's a card for my dad's lockup in upstate New York. Read it." I said, passing him the card.

"Castle Storage. 42 Rover Hill," he read.

"Castle on a hill of forty-two dogs," I quoted Chuck's vision back to him, reaching for the card and taking it back.

"So you think your dad had the Michael sword all this time?" He asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure what else Chuck could have meant," I replied. Bobby nodded, looking down at his feet.

"Yeah. Okay. It's good enough for me," he said. When he looked up his expression had changed and I froze as he lashed out at me, knocking me through the barrier that divided the kitchenette from the beds in the room. I gasped for breath, and then he was on top of me, grabbing my shirt and lifting, slamming me down against the ground. This time when I looked at him his eyes turned black. _Well, son of a bitch._

Bobby dragged me to my feet, my head was spinning from the impact with the floor, and I struggled to gain my composure, grabbing at his shirt and holding him at arms length, he returned the gesture, holding my with a pincer grip at the join between neck and shoulder. .

A woman with long dark wavy hair and eyes as black as night even without the demon look walked in, followed by another male lackey. She smirked when she saw me, shaking her head.

"I always knew you were a big, dumb, slow, dim pain in the ass, Dean. But I never dreamed you were so V.I.P," she commented. Her eyes looked around the room, falling to the demon knife on the bedside table beside her. She picked it up, pointing it at me and sauntering closer. "I mean, you're gonna ice the devil? You? If I'd have known that, I'd have ripped your pretty, pretty face off ages ago."

"Ruby," I said, frowning. How was she alive and back?

"Try again. Go back further," she countered. I paused, thinking about all the other demons we'd crossed throughout the years. Only one stood out over the others.

"Meg?"

"Hi," she smiled, obviously pleased that I'd guessed correctly. "These are the days of miracle and wonder, Dean. Our Father's among us. You know we're all dreaming again for the first time since we were human? It's Heaven on Earth. Or Hell. We really owe your brother a fruit basket."

"My God, you like the sound of your own voice," I quipped, forcing myself to calm down, think clearly. I settled into myself, deep, drawing on the years of training Dad had put us through, calling on the calm before the storm. I was here, three against one, and at least one of them I couldn't kill because he was inhabiting Bobby. Sam and Beth were at the church, and there had been no indication that they were heading back any time soon. I had to fix this myself. Meg was still rambling on.

"But you, on the other hand, you're the only bump in the road. So every demon—every single one—is just dying for a piece of you," she said, raising an eyebrow at me.

I smirked at her. "Get in line."

"Oh, I'm in the front of the line, baby," she said, coming to stand in front of me, mere inches from my face. "Let's ride." She kissed me. I was more surprised than anything else. Her lips pressed hard against mine, while I struggled without success of breaking free. She was gripping my chin tightly, nails digging into the skin, and then her tongue forced its way inside my mouth. _What the hell?_

She pulled away after a moment, looking smugly satisfied with herself. I raised an eyebrow, watching her.

"What was that, peanut butter?" I asked.

"You know, your surrogate daddy's still awake screaming in there," she said, looking at Bobby. "And I want him to know how it feels slicing the life out of you."

These demons, they were sick and sadistic. I'd been down this road before, I'd listened to Beth tell me how it was to have that happen to her. Meg handed the knife to Bobby, and he raised it to my throat, pushing me back against the wall. I had to fight. I had to talk him out of it, he was strong. I looked him in the eyes, struggling to stop him from pushing the blade into my throat.

"Bobby!" I said, hoping to reach the man inside. There was a moment of hesitation. He was fighting.

"Now!" Meg ordered, and Bobby looked at me, raising the knife up in the air.

"Bobby no!" I uttered, holding my hand up in the air. The knife hovered, his hand trembling, and then I saw the black start to fade from his eyes. The knife wavered, and I saw Bobby come to the surface for a split second. Then he stepped back and swung downward, changing the angle of the blade, and it sliced into his stomach.

"No!" I yelled. A flash of yellow passed through Bobby's eyes while the demon died and then he collapsed to the floor.

Anger flooded through me. I was free of his hold. Now or never. I launched myself at Meg, landing a couple of punches. She fell to the ground and I kept going at the other demon. Two against one was never going to bode well, but I had to give it my all. The guy slammed me into the wall, keeping a hold of my shirt, and kneeing me in the stomach before throwing me to the floor. The door to the room opened, and I looked up long enough to see Beth's shocked face looking at Bobby on the floor. Then searing pain as the demon started to punch me.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

There was a commotion in the room when we got back. Laughter and sibling comradeship turned to shock as I opened the door to see Bobby lying on the floor, the demon knife stuck into his stomach.

"Bobby!" I exclaimed, turning to look around the room - another man had Dean by the beds and was beating the hell out of him. Sam pushed past me, taking in the scene.

"No!" He yelled, then a dark haired woman intercepted him with a telephone to the face. He stumbled back against the wall.

"Heya, Sammy. You miss me? 'Cause I sure missed you," she smirked and Sam seemed to realise right away who he was standing in front of.

"Meg?" Sam asked. I was already pushing past them in an effort to get to Dean. From the corner of my eye Meg grinned and Sam took a swing at her. _Meg?_ I couldn't focus on that right now. I threw myself at the demon on top of Dean, grabbing him around the neck and pulling backwards, hard.

Meg kicked out at Sam, kicking him in the groin and Sam fell to the ground. I spun the demon I was holding around, smashing him into the wall behind me. I pulled my attention inwards, prioritising in a split second. Dean was breathing hard, bleeding, but otherwise looked unharmed. Sam groaned and pushed himself up, he was moving and in the fight. That left Bobby, who was unmoving on the floor. We needed to get these demons out, fast, and get him to a hospital.

"It's not so easy without those super-special demon powers, huh, Sammy?" Meg asked, grabbing Sam by his hair and pulling his head back. At the same time the other demon pushed off the wall, kicking at me. I blocked with my arms, but the momentum of the kick still send me flying backwards into a partially destroyed barrier wall.

Meg punched Sam. Dean was still struggling to get up and the demon kicked him in the stomach, causing him to spit out blood. I shoved off the wall, spinning around and throwing a high kick at the demon. He stumbled back and regaining his balance before toward me again. I feinted to his right, and jumped. As I came back to the ground, I brought my elbow down on the back of his neck and he dropped next to Dean.

Dean didn't hesitate, grabbing the hilt of the dagger and pulling it out of Bobby, stabbing the demon in the chest with it. I breathed a sigh of relief as the demon stopped moving. I grabbed Dean by the arm, helping him up and he brought the knife with him. Meg had stopped beating on Sam, glancing over at Dean and as he advanced, she backed away. Within seconds she realised she'd just had the tables turned on her, and with a scream she smoked out of the body she was in. The woman collapsed to the ground, and Meg was gone.

* * *

 _ **Emergency Room  
Pittsburgh Hospital**_

 **Beth's POV**

Bobby was awake, but barely when Dean and Sam carried him into the emergency room. I held the door, noting the pallid look on his face and rushing forward.

"We need some help here!" I called out and a nurse came rushing up.

"What happened?" She asked, looking us over.

"He was stabbed," I said.

"Can we get a gurney?" She called out behind her and two nurses rushed over pushing one. The boys helped Bobby on to the gurney and Dean held his hand, looking down, a finely disguised panic in his voice.

"Hang on, Bobby. Hang in there. You're gonna be okay," he said reassuringly. The nurses started to rush Bobby down the corridor and we started to follow, only to find the first nurse blocking our progress.

"Just wait here," she said.

"We can't just leave him!" I said.

"Just don't move. I've got questions," she ordered, and I felt Dean take my arm, pulling me back toward the door as the nurse turned to get paperwork.

"Baby, we got to go," Dean said, starting to leave.

"No," I said, shaking my head. I wanted to stay, I needed to make sure he was okay. I had to call Cole. I couldn't just leave him here.

"No way, Dean," Sam agreed with me, and Dean sighed, looking at us both.

"The demons heard where the sword is. We got to get to it before they do, if we're not too late already. Come on!" He said, pushing me gently toward the door. I took a few hesitant steps. Buffalo was hours away.

"I'll stay," Sam said, looking at us. "We don't all need to go."

"No, absolutely not," Dean said, shaking his head. "We don't know what we're going up against. I need you both with me."

It was when he said that I realised just how serious he was. He'd spent the last few hours sullen and pissed at Sam, practically ignoring him, but now he needed us both? I glanced at Sam who was struggling with the decision.

"Come on Sammy," I urged, giving in. "It'll be okay. I'll call Cole on the way."

Sam nodded, and together the three of left the building before the nurse got back to ask us her questions - which we all knew would delay us and get the police involved.

* * *

 _ **Castle Storage  
Buffalo, New York**_

 **Dean's POV**

It was a three and a half hour drive to Buffalo, I'd made it in just over two. During that time Beth had left countless messages with Cole, who was now on her way to Pennsylvania with JJ. I felt better knowing they were going to be around. I didn't expect the demons to attack him at this point - the damage had been done - but it wouldn't hurt us to be careful just the same.

Beth was feeling the attack the hardest because she'd left with Sam. I watched her as we pulled up, her face clouded and lost in her own thoughts. Sam got out to start going through the weapons, and I reached over, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Hey, this isn't your fault," I said and she turned sad eyes.

"We never catch a break, you know?" She asked, and I nodded. I knew exactly what she was saying. It seemed like the last few years we'd been running from one crisis to the next. More often than not it felt like we were jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Gone were the days of cruising around the countryside looking for a simple monster to kill.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I know." I didn't know what else to say, just looked at her watching me. I wished I could promise things would get better, but right now I didn't think that was going to be happening for a while - maybe not at all. Instead I leaned over and kissed her lips softly, listening to her breath escape lightly from her mouth.

"Come on," I said, feeling the press of time on us. "Let's just take it one hour at a time, and see what the hell is in this storage unit, huh?" Beth nodded and I threw her a bolstering smile, opening the door and getting out to join Sam in loading guns.

Beth had located the key to the unit in the glove box and was working away at the lock when we joined her, taking up watch. As Sam entered the unit, I handed Beth her shotgun, and we followed, guns raised.

Inside the devil's trap just inside the door were a couple of dead bodies, and it was clear as day they'd been ambushed.

"I see you told the demons where the sword is," a voice said and we spun to see Zachariah behind us, accompanied by two other angels.

"Oh, thank god. The angels are here," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"And to think...they could have grabbed it any time they wanted," Zachariah continued as if I hadn't spoken. He waved his hand to close the door and then smiled at me. "It was right in front of them"

"What do you mean?" Beth asked, dropping her gun to her side. I followed suit, no point in shooting him, not like it would help.

"We may have planted that particular piece of prophecy inside Chuck's skull, but it happened to be true," Zachariah said. "We did lose the Michael sword. We truly couldn't find it. Until now. You've just hand-delivered it to us."

I frowned, completely confused by his logic. "We don't have anything," I said.

"It's you, chucklehead. You're the Michael sword," he replied. "What, you thought you could actually kill Lucifer? You simpering wad of insecurity and self-loathing? No. You're just a human, Dean. And not much of one."

I restrained myself from taking a few pot shots at him just for fun, and gave him my best death stare. "What do you mean, I'm the sword?"

"You're Michael's weapon. Or, rather, his...receptacle." The crushing reality of what he was saying started to hit me, and I was _not_ impressed with what I was hearing.

"He's a vessel?" Beth asked.

"He's _the_ vessel," Zachariah corrected. "Michael's vessel."

"How? Why—why me?" I managed to spit out. The walls of the unit were suddenly very confining. Too enclosed for the escape we were going to have to pull off. It was coming, and I glanced past Zachariah at the angels guarding the only exit to the unit.

"Because you're chosen! It's a great honor, Dean," Zachariah answered.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, life as an angel condom. That's real fun. I think I'll pass, thanks," I said.

Zachariah's face fell from mirth to frustration, but he managed to keep up his smile. "Joking. Always joking. Well...no more jokes," he said. He raised one hand, extending his fingers out like a gun to point at me, and then he moved.

"Bang," He said, pulling his imaginary trigger. Next to me Beth cried out and dropped to the floor, clutching her leg - clearly broken.

"God…" she muttered, groaning.

"You son of a bitch!" I snapped, seeing red.

"Keep mouthing off, I'll break more than her legs," Zachariah warned. "I am completely and utterly through screwing around. The war has begun. We don't have our general. That's bad. Now, Michael is going to take his vessel and lead the final charge against the adversary. You understand me?"

"No!" Beth cried out, and I looked down at her, seeing the pain on her face.

"How many humans die in the crossfire, huh? A million? Five, ten?" I asked.

"Probably more. If Lucifer goes unchecked, you know how many die? All of them. He'll roast the planet alive," Zachariah replied.

Something was niggling the back of my mind. I looked down at Beth again, thinking about her and Cas. Why didn't he just take me?

"There's a reason you're telling me this instead of just nabbing me," I said.

"Consent," Beth gasped and I knew she was right.

"That's right," I said, nodding. It was the same of all angels. "Michael needs my say-so to ride around in my skin."

Zachariah sighed and rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Well, there's got to be another way," I said.

"There is no other way. There must be a battle," he replied to me. "Michael must defeat the serpent. It is written."

I knelt down to look at Beth, seeing her pull inside and shove the pain to the back of her mind, like we'd all been trained to do. "Yeah," I said, looking up at him. "Maybe...but, on the other hand... Eat me. The answer's no."

"Okay. How about this? Your friend Bobby—we know he's gravely injured. Say yes, and we'll heal him. Say no, he'll never walk again." Beth looked up at me sharply and I sighed. It was a tempting offer. But…

"No." I said.

"Then how about we heal you from...stage-four stomach cancer?" He asked, and I felt a stabbing pain in my abdomen. I crumpled over, falling to the ground beside Beth and coughing. I put my hand up to my mouth and saw blood.

"No," I answered.

"Then let's get really creative," Zachariah said, that maniacal look in his eyes. "Uh, let's see how...Sam does without his lungs."

Behind us, Sam gasped for breath, and looked down at Beth and I in a panic.

"Are we having fun yet? You're going to say yes, Dean." He looked so smug, I wanted to punch him right in the middle of his round face, make that nose bleed.

"Just kill us," Beth spat out at him. Zachariah smiled.

"Kill you? Oh, no. I'm just getting started."

* * *

 _ **Castle Storage  
Buffalo, New York  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

The pain in my leg was excruciating, but I was more worried around Sam and his missing lungs when suddenly a white light flashed around us. Zachariah turned, obviously not expecting it, and we all saw one of the angels with him collapse to the ground, a bloody hole in throat. I felt him almost immediately, and it filled my heart with joy. Castiel.

 _Look out!_ I sent him telepathically as the other angel with Zachariah attacked him, and they swung into each other, blades raised, and then tussled about the storage container knocking items off shelves, before Castiel finally got the better of him and stabbed him in the back. Another bright light flashed, and the angel dropped to the ground dead.

Zachariah had stopped moving, staring at Castiel as he fought. Once the dark haired angel's attention turned to him, he stepped back.

"How are you…?"

"Alive?" Castiel asked, cutting him off. "That's a good question. How did these three end up on that airplane? Another good question. 'Cause the angels didn't do it. I think we both know the answer, don't we?"

Zachariah shook his head. "No. That's not possible."

"It scares you," Castiel said with a nod. "Well, it should. Now, put these kids back together and go. I won't ask twice." He pointed to the three of us, all on the ground and then looked expectantly at Zachariah.

I didn't even feel it happen, one second I had the pain in my leg, and the next it was gone, and Sam was sitting up, looking around at us, surprised. He took in a deep breath and I copied as Dean climbed to his feet. He reached down, helping me up.

"You need to be more careful," Castiel said.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that," Dean said with a sigh. "Your frat brothers are bigger dicks than I thought."

"I don't mean the angels. Lucifer is circling his vessel. And once he takes it, those hex bags won't be enough to protect you," the angel replied. He reached out, first placing a hand on my shoulder and I felt a weird burning sensation wash across my chest. Then he put his hands on Dean and Sam's chests, and they gasped just as I had.

"What the Hell was that?" I asked, frowning at the angel. I tried to read his mind, but all I saw were flashes of Enochian.

"An Enochian sigil. It'll hide you from every angel in creation, including Lucifer," Castiel replied.

"What, did you just brand us with it?" Dean asked and Cas shook his head.

"No. I carved it into your ribs," Cas said. We paused a moment to take this in, and then I looked at him, seeing that he really was standing here in front of us.

"You really were dead. I couldn't feel you," I said.

"Yes," he replied.

"Then how are you back?" Dean asked. Cas vanished before we got an answer, and even as I tried to connect with him I found the link between us blocked. I looked around at the dead lying in the unit and sighed. What a clean up this was going to be.

* * *

 _ **Pittsburg Hospital  
Bobby's Room  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

I walked toward Bobby's room with my arm linked into Jefferson's grilling him about where he had been for the last few days.

"Princess, if I tell you all my secrets, where would the mystery then be?" He asked with a chuckle, leaning his shoulder against mine and we childishly pushed back against each other as we walked.

"Come on, what's going on Jefferson? Where did you go?"

"All in good time, let's wait until everyone is together," he replied, nodding toward Bobby's room where there was shouting currently echoing through the door and down the corridor.

"Unlikely to walk again"?! Why, you snot-nosed son of a bitch! Wait till I get out of this bed!" Bobby's voice was followed by the door bursting open and a doctor fleeing the room, his eyes wide with fear. I chuckled, stepping through the door, catching sight of Cole sitting on the chair by the bed with JJ on her lap, She rolled her eyes as Bobby launched into another string of obscenities.

"I'll use my game leg and kick your friggin' ass! Yeah, you better run!" Bobby yelled and I grinned, moving toward the window where Dean and Sam were standing.

"Dad…" Cole cautioned, shaking her head at him.

"You believe that yahoo?" Bobby asked, ignoring her and throwing his hand in the air.

"Screw him. You'll be fine," Dean chimed in, and everyone murmured their agreement.

The room fell silent, everyone lost in their thoughts. I looked over at Jefferson who was leaning casually against the opposite wall and crossed my arms.

"So you going to tell us what the big undercover mission was?" I asked and he grinned, running a hand through his hair.

"Unproductive," he replied, "for the most part. He paused for a moment, looking at his hand and for the first time I noticed that it was bandaged, and the wrappings continue up his arm and under his shirt.

"What happened?" I asked, moving to grasp his hand.

"A little scrape, it's nothing," he said dismissively, then looked over at Cole.

"As you all know, I have many contacts. As soon as I heard what happened in Ilchester, I reached out for information. I went undercover with someone, into a demon stronghold near St Augustine. This is a place well known for some of the more elite, higher up demons to congregate, as it turned out."

"Put that on the to-do list," Dean said, crossing his arms when I glanced back at him.

"Yes, well, I was able to learn something about our dear friend Lucifer. He is an angel, as we all know, and as such requires permission to enter his vessel. Now, Patrick and I had studied the angelic lines as much as we could, and not everyone can be an angel vessel." He paused, looking contemplatively at me.

"It's in our blood," I said quietly and he nodded.

"Certain bloodlines for particular angel lines. The higher and more powerful the angel, the more specific the bloodline needs to be in order to contain the essence of the being," he said. "Lucifer, Michael, the other angels higher up on the food chain, they all require a vessel from the oldest bloodline there is. That of Adam and Eve."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm descended from Adam and Eve? _The_ Adam and Eve?" Dean asked, holding a hand out.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Jefferson replied with a short nod. "Lucifer, Michael, these are some of the most powerful angels in existence, and ironically for Lucifer the bloodline to house his essence is descended from the very man whose existence saw him exiled to Hell."

"Well that is ironic," Cole said with a smirk.

"I discovered that he has been circling another vessel for a while. In Delaware," Jefferson said. "We tried to get there in time. But by the time we figured out who it was, Lucifer had already convinced him to let him in."

"Who does that?" Cole asked, and then she looked a little guiltily at Sam who looked down at the floor.

"Oh, Lucifer has been playing this game for a while. Grooming his vessels. I couldn't get any further information, but this vessel isn't even his first pick," Jefferson said. "But he is the consolation prize. Lucifer had demons kill this man's wife and baby."

"Oh my God!" I gasped, feeling the emotion of that pass right through me.

"Indeed," Jefferson said. "Nick was the man's name. He was, as you can imagine, devastated. He's been living in his own personal Hell, and when Lucifer came knocking with … once can imagine, all kinds of lies and promises, Nick couldn't refuse."

"He took the Vessel," Bobby said.

"Yes."

The whole room seemed to sigh, falling once more into deep thoughts.

"So, let me ask the million-dollar question," I said. "What do we do now?"

"Well... We save as many as we can for as long as we can, I guess. It's bad. Whoever wins, heaven or hell, we're boned," Bobby replied.

"What if we win?" Dean asked boldly, and we all turned to look at him.

"Why do I always feel nervous when you start to talk like that?" I asked.

"I'm serious," Dean asked. "I mean, screw the angels and the demons and their crap apocalypse. Hell, they want to fight a war, they can find their own planet. This one's ours, and I say they get the hell off it. We take 'em all on. We kill the devil. Hell, we even kill Michael if we have to. But we do it our own damn selves."

"And how are we supposed to do all this, genius?" Jefferson asked and Dean shrugged.

"I got no idea," he confessed. "But what I do have is a GED and a give-'em-hell attitude, and I'll figure it out." I smiled at him, and in that moment I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

"You are nine kinds of crazy, boy," Bobby said.

"It's been said," I commented with a smirk. Dean nodded and moved over to Bobby's side, patting him on the shoulder.

"Listen, you stay on the mend. We'll see you in a bit," he said confidently, looking up at me. I nodded, and smiled at Bobby. Dean headed for the door, I wasn't far behind him. Sam hesitated, his shoulders slumped and then started to follow.

"Sam?" Bobby said suddenly, and our little brother turned to look at him.

"I was awake. I know what I said back there," Bobby said. "I just want you to know that...that was the demon talking. I ain't cutting you out, boy. Not ever." Cole smiled, nodding her approval. Sam sighed with relief and then mustered up a smile for the older man.

"Thanks, Bobby," he replied.

"You're welcome. I deserve a damn medal for this, but...you're welcome," Bobby said, earning a chuckle from Jefferson.

Jefferson followed with us as walked in silence back toward the car park. As we reached the door, and ambulance went racing past, heading out on a call, and we all started to walk across the street to the parking lot.

"You know, I was thinking, Dean—maybe we could go after the Colt," Sam said finally.

"Why? What difference would that make?" Dean asked.

"Well, we could use it on Lucifer. I mean, you just said back there…"

"I just said a bunch of crap for Bobby's benefit," Dean cut in and we all stopped to look at him, standing in the middle of the road.

"Jesus Dean, way to rain on your own parade," Jefferson said with a smirk.

"Look," Dean said. "I'll fight. I'll fight till the last man, but let's at least be honest. I mean, we don't stand a snowball's chance, and you all know that. I mean, hell, you, Sam, of all people know that." He sighed and pushed past Sam, intent on reaching the Impala now.

"Guys…" Sam said, and Dean turned to look back at us. He stopped, glancing at each one of us in turn. "Is there something you want to say to me?"

"Sammy…" I said hesitantly. "There's really nothing…"

"I tried, Sammy," Dean cut in. "I mean, I really tried." I stared at Dean, seeing the struggle on his face. He ran a hand across his face, tears in his eyes as he looked around at everything other than the people standing in front of him.

"But I just can't keep pretending that everything's all right. Because it's not. And it's never going to be. You chose a demon over your own family…" Sam sighed, his expression turned pained again. "...and look what happened," Dean finished.

"I would give anything… _anything_ … to take it all back," Sam said.

"We know you would. And we know how sorry you are," I said placatingly

"Yeah, we do. But, man...you were the one that we depended on the most. And you let us down in ways that I can't even…" Dean's words started to falter and he shook his head, eyes full of emotion. "I'm just—I'm having a hard time forgiving and forgetting here. You know? I'm not Beth."

"Dean!" I gasped and Dean looked at me, taking my arm and pulling me to the side of the road. We all moved with him as a car came driving past.

"I'm not, babe," Dean continued. "Look at you! I don't know how you do it, you just get up every damn day as if nothing is wrong, and you keep going. You hold it together for all of us. For me." He paused, smiling at me. "You ask me, Sammy's lucky he's got you. Because how you seem to have forgiven over Ruby? Baby I can't even begin to understand that."

"He's… he's our brother," I said, unable to put it in any other way. I was as puzzled by this whole lack of anger as the next person.

"Beth's capacity for forgiveness has always been extremely high," Jefferson said, looking proudly at me. "But you mustn't mistake it for weakness, nor take it for granted."

"What can I do?" Sam asked.

"Honestly?" Dean asked. "Nothing." Sam nodded, seemingly unsurprised.

"I just don't… I don't think that we can ever be what we were. You know?" Dean asked. Sam nodded again. "I just don't think I can trust you."

Sam's head shot up and I could see that he wasn't expecting that - truth be told, neither was I. Dean shook his head, walking away toward the Impala.

"He's right," Sam said, and I shook my head.

"Don't worry about Dean, Sam," Jefferson said. "His capacity for forgiveness is just as high as your sister's," he continued. "Give him time."

"We all screw up," I said quietly.

Jefferson slung his arm around Sam's shoulder and nodded toward his Plymouth Roadrunner parked nearby. "Come on mate, I'll drive you to the motel, I'll crash with you for a few days, give Dean some space."

Sam nodded and then turned to look at me. I smiled and gave him a hug, squeezing him tightly against me. "It's okay Sammy," I promised. "Jefferson's right, give me a few days to work on him."

I know what Sam was thinking my technique was going to be, and to be honest - a little intimacy wasn't going to hurt Dean's mood one tiny bit. More than anything, however, I think he needed to talk and get it all off his chest. Giving him a safe space to voice that, without the fear of Sam overhearing or getting hurt as Dean worked through his emotions - that was going to be key to him coming to a better space mentally with his brother.

We all needed a break. These next couple of days, while we regrouped, might be the make or break of us, so it was important we used them well. I turned to the Impala, seeing Dean watching me over the roof of the car as he leaned against it.

Alcohol.

We were going to have to stop at the liquor store on the way to the motel, this was going to require some fancy footwork, and alcohol was step one…

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: Dawn by Poets of the Fall

* * *

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on _To Hell And Back,_ and for checking out the new _Where Angels Fear to Tread._ I appreciate all your comments and support!

* * *

 **MORE ABOUT THE DEAN & BETH SERIES**

This is the story of Beth (O'Malley) Winchester, daughter of a minister, also a hunter who was friends with John Winchester. Although she was unaware of his 'other job', as a teenager, Beth found out the hard way about the things that are out there in the dark when she was possessed by a demon, an old foe of her father's, and forced to kill him by her own hand.

John rescued her, exorcised the demon, and took her in, teaching her the ways of hunting. She and Dean developed a relationship which they finally pursued against John's wishes, eventually gaining his blessing when she was nearly killed during a hunt. They have done everything together since they were teenagers, enduring a painful separation when Dean went to Hell - now they are back together, and their love for each other is stronger than ever. Will it be enough to see them through what is to come?

This is Supernatural as I think it should be written. :) In general, I follow the series, writing Beth into it as we go – that's right, I don't change the plots all that much, that's not what this is about. Some become flashbacks, some change a bit to fit with the storyline I am creating around Beth, and there is more and more original content being added as I go along: all in all I hope you enjoy the way I write it, and come back for more!

Please post a review if you're enjoying the writing – I love to get feedback, especially if it's nice! If you have songs you'd like to suggest for any particular episodes, do so, I love to add to my playlists :) Likewise if you have any ideas around storyline, episodes etc. feel free to suggest them, I may not go with your ideas (because I have a fair idea on where I am taking the characters and the show) but I will always listen respectively and give you my thoughts in return – and I love suggestions for oneshots or things you'd like to see included in the story. Let me know what you like about the story! Everyone's encouragement just inspires me to keep going with it :D


	2. Good God Y'all

_Waking up at the start of the end of the world,_ _  
_ _But it's feeling just like every other morning before,_ _  
_ _Now I wonder what my life is going to mean if it's gone,_ _  
_ _The cars are moving like a half a mile an hour_ _  
_ _And I started staring at the passengers who're waving goodbye_ _  
_ _Can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?_

 _I believe the world is burning to the ground_ _  
_ _Oh well I guess we're gonna find out_ _  
_ _Let's see how far we've come_ _  
_ _Let's see how far we've come_ _  
_ _Well I believe it all is coming to an end_ _  
_ _Oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend,_ _  
_ _Let's see how far we've come_ _  
_ _Let's see how far we've come_

* * *

 **GOOD GOD Y'ALL**

* * *

 ** _13 Years Ago  
_** ** _Wilmington, Delaware_**

 ** _Beth's POV_**

 _"Me? What do you need me for?" Dean asked John, grabbing a Coke out of the fridge. He glanced over at me with a quizzical look, holding the can in the air toward me. I nodded at him and smiled - it was sweet the way he'd been looking after me the last few months. He grinned back at me, reaching into the fridge for another can and walking over to hand it to me._

 _"You're old enough to start taking on more cases," John answered, frowning at his son. "Beth can watch Sam."_

 _"She's only just joined us," Dean argued, and I felt my hair stand on at the back of my neck._

 _"I think I'm capable of looking after Sam, thanks Dean," I said and he sighed, sitting down on the bed next to me._

 _"That's not what I meant," he said softly while John gathered some papers and stood up._

 _"Then it's settled," John said, always one to keep the conversation to a bare minimum. "Beth, Sam will be back from school in half an hour, you guys hang here until we get back. We're going to check out the house of the first victim."_

 _"Okay," I said, taking a sip from my can. Suddenly I felt very alone, and nervous. I hadn't been on my own since I'd joined the Winchesters. Dean was looking at me, his face unreadable as John went into the bathroom._

 _"Are you sure about this?" He asked, as soon as we were alone._

 _"Yeah, I'm fine, Dean," I insisted._

 _"I don't know…"_

 _"What's going on with you?" I asked, frowning at him. "Don't you think I can take care of Sam?"_

 _"No! Of course not," Dean said, grimacing as my face fell. "That's not what I mean. Of course I think you can, you're the only one I trust with him other than Dad. Maybe more than Dad…"_

 _I smiled and he reached out, squeezing my hand._

 _"I don't like leaving you on your own, not yet," he said with evident concern._

 _"I'm fine, really," I said, patting his hand. "You can't always babysit me. This is… this is what we do_

 _right?"_

 _Dean sighed, nodding. "Yeah, it is. But , you know Beth, you and Sam… you're young. I need to take_

 _care of you both."_

 _"And you do," I said with a smile._

 _There was a sound of the toilet flushing and then John re-entered the room, nodding at Dean._

 _"Let's go," he said, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door._

 _"Yes, sir," Dean replied, standing up and downing the rest of his drink. He walked out to the car and John hesitated in the doorway, looking back at me._

 _"As soon as Sam gets back from school, lock the doors, there's a gun in the top drawer by the Bible… any problems you shoot first, ask questions second, okay?" He asked._

 _"Yes sir," I stumbled out. For the first time in months I felt afraid._

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

 ** _Pittsburgh, PA_**  
 ** _Hospital - Bobby's Room_**

 **Dean's POV**

Bobby had fallen silent in his recovery, that fire and brimstone he's hailed down on everyone in the early days of his attack had simmered down to a heated rage simmering below the surface. Sam was standing in the doorway to the room watching him, almost as if he was hesitant to go in. Things hadn't been quite the same between him and Bobby, even after he told us it had been the demon talking. I took another sip of my coffee and joined him, looking into the stark, white room.

The subject of our attention, Bobby, was sitting in a wheelchair dressed in a bathrobe and his familiar ball cap. He stared out the window, his face turned away from us, his mood unreadable.

"It's been like three days now?" I asked. It seemed longer, like we'd been stuck here a week. It hadn't helped that we'd had Cole staying with us too. While she knew it was the job and people got hurt, she was frustrated and upset, and when you put that into a room with me, tempers seemed to flare.

Sam sighed in reply to the question and I shook my head.

"We got to cheer him up. Maybe I'll give him a backrub," I said cheekily, and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Dean…"

"Well, what, then?" I asked with a shrug as if there was an easy answer out there.

 **"** Look...we might have to wrap our heads around the idea that Bobby might not just bounce back this time," Sam said quietly. I took another sip of my coffee, frowning, letting this statement sit uncomfortably in my stomach. I didn't have to think on it long though, as the quick steps of someone walking up behind us sounded; I'd have recognised them anywhere, and turned to see Beth sauntering up carrying an envelope with the words "X-ray".

She peered in at Bobby, frowning, before stepping back into the hallway. "Still?" She asked, seeing us nod. "Maybe I'll give him a backrub," she joked and I snorted, almost spitting my coffee out.

Sam gaped, his mouth opening and shutting before giving a little disbelieving sigh. "Well… better you than Dean, probably," he said finally, and then pointed to her hand. "What's in the envelope?"

"Ah!" Beth said, handing me the envelope. "We went to radiology earlier…" Curiously I opened the envelope and pulled out the contents.

"And got some glamour shots," I said, handing them to Sam. We were looking at two different x-rays of ribs – one mine, one hers. There were some strange symbols that looked a lot like Enochian carved into both our bones.

"Let's just say the doctors are baffled," she commented, sipping on her own coffee.

"Holy crap," Sam murmured and I nodded appreciatively. We'd gotten the x-rays expecting as much, but to see it in black and white right there in front of us, well that was something else.

"Yeah, well, Cas carved you up, too," I said. Beth's phone started to right and she looked at it with a shrug, answering and holding it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked, pausing to listen. " ...Cas?"

"Speak of the Devil," I said with a chuckle, raising my eyebrow in her direction.

"Ah, UPMC Mercy. Why? What are you—Cas?" She looked confused for a moment, and then shook her head, hanging up.

"What did he…?" My question was interrupted as a woman in scrubs, followed by a man in a doctor's coat rushed past with a cart.

 _"Dr. Cohen to the ER, stat. Dr. Cohen to the ER, stat."_ Sounded the PA system, and we all watched these two continue down the hallway while Cas walked past them, stopping beside us.

"Cell phone, Cas?" I asked. "Really? Since when do angels need to reach out and touch someone?"

"You're hidden from angels now—all angels," Cas said simply.

"And you can't angel radio up Beth to see where we are?" I asked.

He turned piercing blue eyes to me that seemed to look right through me. I felt a sense of chagrin at the questioning, but pushed it aside. "I can't talk to Beth on the, angel radio as you call it, someone might be listening. I won't be able to simply…."

"Enough foreplay," Bobby announced from inside the room behind us. We stopped talking, everyone turning to look at the man who hadn't said a word in days. "Get over here and lay your damn hands on."

I waited for something, anything to happen. Most of all I realised that I'd been waiting for this moment too, as had Bobby obviously. It was something that I hadn't dared voice, because it might have been like water in my hands, and one word would see it slip through my fingers. When no one moved, Cas included, Bobby turned to look at us all hovering in the doorway.

"Get healing. Now."

Cas hesitated for a moment, and then sighed. "I can't."

The silence was deafening. I felt the blood rushing through my ears at those words, my secret hope dashed. Bobby turned his chair toward the doorway, his face stony.

"Say again?"

Cas pushed past us into the room, walking up to Bobby. "I'm cut off from Heaven and much of Heaven's power. Certain things I can do. Certain things I can't," he explained.

"You're telling me you lost your mojo just in time to get me stuck in this trap the rest of my life?" Bobby asked, his voice starting to rise.

"I'm sorry," Cas said.

"Shove it up your ass," Bobby spat out at him, turning back to staring out the window. I nudged Sam's arm with a grin, nodding toward the pair of them. "At least he's talking now," I said.

"I heard that!" Bobby snapped, and Cas used the opportunity to escape the room, leading us across the hallway and out of earshot of Bobby.

"Cas, what about that angel I met… Chamuel?" Beth asked and Cas shook his head.

"She's gone into hiding - there's a lot happening in Heaven right now. Factions breaking from the whole. Chamuel has joined one of them," he replied. My hope was starting to feel as stark as the white walls in the hospital. This was hopeless, and why on Earth were we fighting so hard for beings who can't help us?

"Well, there has to be someone," she pushed. Cas looked at her, his expression clear.

"No one I can contact right now." He turned to look at me, and I didn't like it one bit. "I don't have much time. We need to talk."

"Okay," I said, watching him warily. What did he have up his sleeve this time?

"Your plan to kill Lucifer…." His words caused the hair on the back of my neck to bristle.

"Yeah? You want to help?" I asked.

"No. It's foolish. It can't be done," he said and I scoffed. I had spent my life being told I couldn't do things, couldn't save people, couldn't protect Sam… Beth. I was still fighting.

"Oh. Thanks for the support," I replied.

"But I believe I have the solution," he said. "There is someone besides Michael strong enough to take on Lucifer. Strong enough to stop the apocalypse."

"Who's that?" Sam asked.

"The one who resurrected me and put you on that airplane. The one who began everything. God." Sam looked about as sceptical as I felt, but Cas was almost reverent. "I'm gonna find God."

* * *

 ** _Hospital  
_** **Beth's POV**

I think the only person who might have been more surprised by Castiel's announcement than Dean, was me. I watched as Dean ushered us into Bobby's room and closed the door.

"God?" He asked skeptically, his eyes saying it all. He thought Cas had lost his mind.

"Yes," the angel replied in all earnest.

"God?" Dean said again.

"Yes! He isn't in Heaven. He has to be somewhere," Cas declared.

"Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla," Dean retorted and I sighed, this was going to go downhill fast.

"No, he's not on any flatbread," Cas said with a frown.

"Listen, Chuckles," Dean clearly wasn't letting this go. I exchanged a shrug with Sam as the two continued to talk. "Even if there is a God, he is either dead—and that's the generous theory…"

"Dean…" I cautioned. Even I wasn't about to declare God as dead.

"He is out there, Dean," Cas intervened, but Dean was still talking.

"...or he's up and kicking and doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us," he finished, finally stopping for a breath. I sucked one in at the same time, feeling the blood drain from my face. What if he was right? Castiel glared at Dean, remaining silent, while the latter started up again. "I mean, look around you, man. The world is in the toilet. We are literally at the end of days here, and he's off somewhere drinking booze out of a coconut. All right?"

"Enough." Castiel's voice cut through us, and I almost flinched. "This is not a theological issue. It's strategic. With God's help, we can win."

"It's a pipe dream, Cas," Dean said with sigh. Cas stepped forward until he was looking in Dena's eyes.

"I killed two angels this week. My brothers," he said. "I'm hunted. I rebelled. And I did it, all of it, for you, and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world…"

"Hey, hey!" I said defensively, holding out a hand in protest as Sam looked down guiltily.

"...and I lost everything, for nothing. So keep your opinions to yourself," Cas continued, ignoring me.

"You didn't drop in just to tear us a new hole. What is it you want?" Bobby asked, drawing attention back to the fact that he was still in the room.

"I did come for something. An amulet," Cas said.

"An amulet?" I asked curiously. "What kind?"

"Very rare. Very powerful," he answered cryptically. "It burns hot in God's presence. It'll help me find him."

"What, like, God EMF?" Sam asked skeptically. Castiel nodded in reply.

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about. I got nothing like that," Bobby said shortly.

"I know," Cas said. "You don't." He looked at Dean, and then his blue eyes dropped down to Dean's chest where the copper amulet he'd worn for as long as I'd known him lay against his t-shirt.

"What?" Dean asked. "This?"

"May I borrow it?" Cas asked.

"No," Dean snapped, taking a step back. I smirked, expecting nothing less. He was practically married to the thing, much as I was to my rosary.

"Dean," Cas said in a stern voice, holding his hand out. "Give it to me."

Dean hesitated, glancing down at his amulet, and then up at me. I realised that Cas was serious, the amulet was important and that made my heart skip a beat. I felt the panic that I imagined must be ten times worse rippling through Dean. It was as if he'd asked me to hand over my wedding ring. Dean was quiet a little longer, and then after a quiet sigh, he reached up to his neck, taking the amulet off.

"All right, I guess," Dean said, holding it out to Cas who reached for it. At the last second Dean pulled it back out of reach, his face turning stern. "Don't lose it." Cas nodded, taking the amulet from Dean who was looking uncomfortable.

"Great. Now I feel naked," he muttered and I smirked, wanting to comment. I wanted to make a joke about how him, naked, would be a much better plan than finding God, but I just couldn't bring myself. He looked at me, and I knew he was thinking it too as Cas turned, looking at me.

"I'll be in touch," he said before vanishing.

"Not a word," Dean said, pointing at me. "I know what you're thinking." I held my hands in the air and grinned, drawing a smile from his face.

"When you find God, tell him to send legs!" Bobby yelled.

We all fell quiet and then the silence was pierced with the sound of Bobby's phone ringing. He picked it up, answering without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" He asked. He listened, and then frowned. "I can't hear you," he said. The sound was almost audible even from Bobby's ear, and the static was obvious. "Where are you?" More talking, and then Bobby frowned. "Colora—Colorado? River Pass, Colorado? Rufus? You there? Ruf—Rufus?"

The call dropped, and Bobby looked up, I hadn't seen him this worried in a while.

* * *

 ** _River Pass, Colorado  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

The bridge into town was out when we got to it. I followed the boy's lead, getting out of the car and stretching my arms above my head, groaning a little at the effort. It had been a long drive, I was exhausted, and frankly a bit worried about Dean who had driven all the way. He didn't seem to be any worse for wear, which was not unusual, just the same I kept a closer eye than usual on him as he leaned near the edge of the collapsed bridge, looking down.

"This is the only road in or out," he said. Sam stood next to him, waving his phone in the air. I looked at my phone, there was nothing.

"No signal," Sam announced, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

"Rufus was right. Demons got this place locked down," I said, looking across the chasm in front of us and sighing. "Looks like we're hiking in."

"And the hits just keep on coming," Dean muttered, standing up and shaking his head. He retreated to the back of the Impala, opening the truck and starting to go through the weapons.

An hour or so later we had reached the town. It appeared abandoned, cars deserted in the middle of the road, kid's bikes lying unattended, houses had their doors wide open and there wasn't a single person to be seen anywhere. I adjusted the weight of my pack and shifted the shotgun I was carrying from one hand to the other as we continued to scan the area. The store closest to us was a sports store, advertising ammo, rods and reels, and a thirty percent off sale for Pioneer's Day. On the other side of us was a string of residential houses.

Dean sauntered up to a blue two-door sedan lying overturned in the street, leaning down to look inside. Sam approached from the other side, his gun at the ready and looking inside from his angle. When he stood up I locked eyes with him and he shook his head. Nothing. I let out a frustrated sigh and hurried to catch up to them, the whole situation was giving me the heebie jeebies.

Another car had been left abandoned in the middle of the street only a few yards down - the door was open and as I got nearer, I realised the engine was still running and the radio was playing _Spirit in the Sky_

 _Prepare yourself  
You know it's a must  
Got to have a friend in Jesus  
So you know that when you die_

I swung my gun around to the front of the car, and then let it drop. Again, nothing. Sam joined me, reaching in to turn off the car engine, and the radio fell silent. I sighed, looking up at a banner hanging over the street. We were being welcomed to the 75th anniversary of River Pass, Colorado's Pioneer Days. It seemed to me that if you were going to attack a town, a public holiday seemed as good a time as any.

Dean was looking at a red mustang, shining and sitting abandoned on the side of the road. He continued to admire it even after Sam moved on, whistling in appreciation.

This whole town was starting to make me uneasy. Since when would you find a nice car like that just sitting out in the open untouched? Something was seriously wrong here. Dean and I joined Sam further down the block by a silver four-door sedan this time. Sam was looking distastefully at a large amount of blood by a stroller, and gestured to the fact that it was leading away from the car. I looked at the windshield, there was a large hole in it. Whatever had gotten these people, it wasn't messing around.

 _Click._

I spun even as I heard it. Dean whipped around, his shotgun already in the air and pointing at the noise. I blinked, not believing my eyes, and Dean lowered his gun.

"Ellen?" I asked, shaking my head.

"Hello, kids," she said, her face unreadable. She dropped her pistol to her side, and walked closer.

"Ellen, what the heck's going on here?" Dean asked. His question was met with a splash of water straight to his face. Ellen raised the gun again, and Dean closed his eyes, swallowed down his frustration. There was a certain level of amusement I carried over the whole _holy water in Dean's face_ thing. After he'd returned from Hell, he'd caught it from nearly everyone he laid eyes on - myself included. I still chuckled about the look on his face, and felt a little guilty for not realising it had been him. Just as happened back then, it was neither boiling nor burning him. I watched Dean, _really watched him,_ for a moment, and was hit with an overwhelming feeling of adoration.

The feeling jumped me by surprise, and tugged at my heart strings. Here we were in the middle of nowhere, in a town that looked as if it was imploding and I could still find myself turned upside down by some of Dean's most simple looks. Ellen's eyes flicked up and down Dean, taking in his reaction.

"We're us," Dean said, completely oblivious to what I was feeling and Ellen lowered her gun, still watching us warily. With an inclination of her head, she stepped between Dean and I, leading the way toward the church behind us.

* * *

 ** _Interior of Church  
_**

 **Dean's POV**

I certainly hadn't been expecting to see Ellen here. That made the whole situation a lot more complicated. We had no idea what we were up against, and the situation started to sit heavier in my chest as she led us into the back rooms of the church. A devil's trap was drawn inside the doorway, and a line of salt lay across the threshold. We all walked over it just fine, of course that didn't surprise me - I knew none of us were possessed, and I doubted Ellen would lead us into a trap she couldn't pass. She turned back as we got indoors and smiled.

"Real glad to see you guys," she said, spontaneously grabbing me into a tight hug. When she pulled back she slapped me and I looked at her, gobsmacked. "The can of whoopass I ought to open on you!" She snapped and I rubbed my jaw.

"Ow!" I said, rather belatedly and she gave me a stern look that said she wasn't even the slightest bit sorry.

"You can't pick up a phone?" She asked, turning from me to Beth with a chastising look. "What are you, allergic to giving me peace of mind? I got to find out that you're alive from Rufus?"

Beth looked a little chagrined, biting her bottom lip. "Sorry, Ellen."

"Yeah, you better be. You better put me on speed dial, girl," Ellen replied.

"Yes, ma'am," she said with a nod, grimacing at me when Ellen turned away. I looked sheepishly at her, feeling a little guilty myself for not having thought to let her know we were okay. We'd been so busy just trying to sort out the whole _Devil among us_ crisis that things like that had kind of slipped our mind.

Ellen took a moment to hug Sam, who had been loitering in the back, that same old lost puppy look on his face. I knew what he was thinking - he was wanting to do his whole apology thing for Ellen too. Well, that had gone over so bloody well with Bobby hadn't it? Fortunately he wasn't given the chance, Ellen pulling away and then waving at us to follow her further inside, down a flight of stairs.

"What's going on Ellen?" I asked as we followed her into the dark basement.

"More than I can handle alone," she replied.

"How many demons are there?" Sam asked, stating the obvious. Salt and devil's traps really only meant one thing.

"Pretty much the whole town, minus the dead people and these guys," Ellen said, coming to a stop in front of a closed door. She hesitated, turning to look back at the three of us. "So, this is it, right? End times?"

I glanced at Beth who bit her lip again, something she always did when she wasn't sure what to say or do.

"It's got to be," Ellen said when no one answered her.

"Seems like it," Beth said quietly. Ellen took this in for a moment and then nodded, turning to rap on the door.

"It's me," she announced. Someone on the other side of the door pulled back something covering a peephole that had been drilled into the centre of the door, and after looking at her, opened the barrier to let us in. The first person I saw was a young guy, and then behind him a priest with an old woman and then another young guy with his arm around a pregnant woman. _Great, just what we needed._ Four other men and a woman rounded out the group.

The four of us entered the room and the guy shut the door behind us, stepping back next to a bookshelf. I glanced down to see that he was holding a rifle. I wondered if he knew how to use it.

"This is Sam, Beth and Dean. They're hunters. Here to help," Ellen said, waving to each of us as she said our names. Beth tried smile reassuringly at them, but I could see she was thinking the same thing I was. There was barely a fighter amongst them, and that didn't bode well when up against a town full of demons.

"You guys hip to this whole demon thing?" The guy with the rifle asked, and I smirked.

"Yeah. Are you?" I asked.

"My wife's eyes turned black," said one of the guys. He was short, balding and had thick glasses on. "She came at me with a brick. Kind of makes you embrace the paranormal," he said. He raised his hand to his chin and looked at his wedding ring. I sighed, looking at Ellen.

"All right, catch us up," I said.

"I doubt I know much more than you," Ellen replied with a shrug. "Rufus called. Said he was in town investigating omens. All of a sudden, the whole town was possessed. Me and Jo were nearby…"

"You're hunting with Jo?" Sam asked sharply, looking up. I sucked in a breath. We hadn't really talked to Jo in a while, it had been about seven months since Sam and her had broken up whatever sort of relationship they'd been having while I was in Hell. It didn't seem like his feelings for her had gotten any fainter.

"Yeah, for a while now," Ellen replied. "We got here, and the place—well, the place was like you see it. Couldn't find Rufus, then me and Jo got separated. I was out looking when I found you."

"Don't worry," Beth said reassuringly. "We'll find her." She looked at Sam as she said it, and I could tell that she was trying to calm him down as much as she was Ellen.

"Either way, these people cannot just sit here," Sam said, looking around at the civilians in the room. "We got to get them out now." I noted the pregnant lady startle when he said this, a panic crossing her face, and then Ellen spoke.

"No, it's not that easy," she said. "I've been trying. We already made a run for it once."

"What happened?" I asked.

"There used to be twenty of us," she replied, and I let that sink in. I'd done a quick head count when we'd walked into the room - there were ten, not counting the four of us. This situation was getting worse by the minute.

"Well," Sam said, "there's four of us now…"

"You don't know what it's like out there," Ellen cut in. "Demons are everywhere. We won't be able to cover everybody."

The pregnant woman was starting to look jittery and nervous and I realised that Ellen wasn't over exaggerating.

"What if we get everyone guns?" Sam asked.

"What, are you gonna arm up baby bump over here?" I asked skeptically, shaking my head.

"More salt we can fire at once, more demons we can keep away," Sam said and I contemplated his comment. Beth was staring at her hands, and then she looked up at me.

"There's a sporting goods store we passed on Main on the way in. I bet they got guns," she said. I dropped our bag on the floor and sighed. We were really going to do this, weren't we?

"All right," Sam said to Ellen. "You stay, we'll go."

"What about…"

"If Jo and Rufus are out there, we'll bring them back," Sam said. I nodded and the young guy opened the door for us. Sam stepped out first, followed by Beth, and I brung up the rear. Suddenly it seemed a little overkill, and worse… there was a lot of demon blood out there.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Hold on," I said, holding out a hand and stopping at the foot of the stairs.

"Why don't I just go?" I asked.

"What?" Beth asked. "Alone?"

"Well, yeah. Somebody's got to stay here and start giving them Shotgun 101," I said, trying to come up with a reason.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Ellen." He turned and started to go up the stairs, and I grabbed his arm.

"No no no. It's gonna go a lot faster if you stay and help, okay?" I said.

"While you go get guns and salt and look for Jo and Rufus? That's stupid." Sam replied.

"I'll take Beth, she's good with the salt stuff," I replied and she frowned at me slightly. I knew she had to be thinking I was losing my mind.

"You don't want me going out there," Sam said finally, and Beth bit her lip.

"I didn't say that," I said defensively.

"Around demons," Sam continued.

"I didn't say that," I repeated, although we all knew it was the god's honest truth.

"Fine, then let's go," Sam said, calling my bluff. I sighed quietly as he turned and started up the stairs, looking at Beth who was now watching him go. She turned to glance at me and cocked her head to the side.

"Nice one," she smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I don't see you helping," I muttered and she gaped.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The hurt in her voice was evident and I grimaced. All I'd meant to point out was that she was siding with Sam a lot these days, rather than me, putting us at odds over some stuff. It had come out a lot harsher than I intended, even if I was a little perplexed by her actions.

"Nothing," I said, but she was already turning around and heading back into the store room. "Beth!"

"I'll help Ellen," she said, knocking on the door to get the guy's attention inside. "You two have this."

I sighed as the door opened and she disappeared behind it. Great. Just great.

* * *

 ** _13 Years Ago  
Wilmington, Delaware_**

 **Dean's POV**

 _"Take this," Dad said, handing me a knife that we'd just had blessed by a priest. "Keep your eyes open."_

 _It was going to be easier said than done. The Wilmington Holy Trinity Greek Festival was in full swing, on every corner was a musician playing ethnic Greek music, surrounded by adoring fans. Dancing, singing, cheerful drunks littered the streets. It was like Mardi Gras gone Greek – not that I'd ever been to Mardi Gras, but it was on the to-do list. In fact, I'd been thinking that would be something fun to do with Beth._

 _I shook my head, trying to get the latest addition to our family out of my head. I didn't want to think about her and Sam alone in the motel room, with a lamia on the loose. Sure, they weren't really in any danger, Dad and I were in more danger out here in the crowds than they were locked in a motel. But just the same I wasn't happy with the idea of leaving them alone._

 _Dad signalled to me that he was going down an alleyway next to him, and then gestured for me to go around. I nodded, and pushed past a group of teens who were hanging out on the steps to the library. A girl laughed, and it sounded a lot like Beth. Pausing I looked back to see the owner of the laugh sitting in the lap of a guy that couldn't be any older than me. They were kissing and I watched for a second, remembering what it had been like at the boy's home I'd spent a few months at not that long ago. There'd been a girl there who I'd really fallen for, and I'd ditched her on the night of the prom, for Dad._

 _I sighed, and pushed on into the night, rounding the corner to the back of the building where Dad had been headed. We were near the church now, and it was lit up like a Christmas tree for the celebrations. I hesitated, recalling the comments Beth had made to me about the church, and how could I think they were harbouring a monster? They weren't pagan!_

 _Dad stepped out of the shadows, bring his hand up to rest on my shoulder and then silently nodded down the side of the building. People were milling about, services were running day and night, and the church was crowded. That wasn't what Dad was looking for. He started to walk down the side of the building, looking for something, and when he found it he stopped and waved me over._

 _I joined him, looking down at an old-fashioned exterior entrance to the basement. It didn't look old though. It was well oiled and maintained, and someone had gone to great care to put a real lock on it._

 _"Well, bolt cutters aren't going to help here," I muttered and Dad smirked, kneeling on the ground and reaching into his leather jacket._

 _"I taught you better than that," he commented, pulling a set of lock picks out of the interior pocket. He started to work the lock, and after a few minutes let out a short, triumphant breath as the lock tumbled and he twisted the handle. Standing, he pulled up the door, and we found ourselves looking down a flight of stairs made from stone._

 _We entered, Dad taking the lead. As soon as we hit the last step the room opened out to a large, ornate temple with old Greek columns, and beautiful statues and carvings. It was lit with flickering oil torches, and I found myself admiring the décor. It was as I imagined it must have been hundreds of years ago in Greece, with soft billowing curtains hanging from the ceiling, turning the cold, marble and stone carvings into a soft and gentle interior._

 _"Circle to the right," Dad instructed, before starting to go in the opposite direction. I moved into an offensive position, knees bent slightly to give me the best approach for attack if needed. I rounded a fluttering curtain and came face to face with a bust of what could have been a philosopher, or god, or an athlete for all I knew. I sighed and stepped around it, something sounded behind me – like a rustle of leaves when the wind picks them up. I spun: nothing._

 _Taking a step backwards, I continued to look in the direction the noise had sounded, and then it happened again, this time to the left of me. I pointed the knife in front of me, toward where I'd heard it and swallowed, trying to still my breathing. Shadows flickered all around in the yellow-orange lighting of the room. Then, without warning it hit me. Like a tonne of bricks landing on me, I fell to the floor, and then I felt the sharp claws dig into my thigh and tear through the flesh._

 _I screamed, and pushed at it. But it was so much stronger than me. I saw blood spray across the floor, and then Dad was there, his knife swinging through the air and into the neck of the lamia that was pinning me down. It wailed and fell to the ground, thrashing a moment before stopping altogether. Voices sounded upstairs, and then there was the sound of people moving to the back of the building._

 _"Time to go," Dad said, pulling his belt off and wrapping it around my leg. "Here, pull this tight, we gotta move."_

* * *

 ** _Present Day  
_**  
 ** _Outside  
_** **Sam's POV**

Beth was conspicuously absent by the time Dean got out the door behind me and I kept waiting for her to join us before realising that she wasn't coming. I'd clearly missed something while storming up the stairs.

"Where's Beth?" I asked, and Dean glared at me.

"Helping Ellen," he replied shortly, looking around at our surroundings. I glanced down the road and spotted a convenience store.

"I'll get the salt," I said. "You get the guns."

"Well go together," Dean replied with a shake of his head.

"Dean, it's right there," I said, gesturing to the store. "Can we at least do this like professionals?" I shook my head at him, raising my gun and headed for the Quik-Mart on the corner.

The shop was empty when I arrived and I wasted no time in grabbing a plastic bag, rounding the aisles of shelving until I found cans of salt. I was preoccupied with getting all the salt when I heard the door chime. Freezing, I stood up to look over the top of the shelves, spotting a couple of black-eyed demons walking into the store. One was carrying a baseball bat, while the other wore a backpack. I ducked down, looking around and seeing them reflected in a security mirror. I was in a bad position, because if I could see them in the mirror, they could likely see me.

I needed my gun, but I'd left it resting on the soup cans, now several feet away from me. Reaching for it, the noise drew the attention of the demon collecting bottles of water. He turned and rushed at me, slamming into me and then we toppled over into the shelves. The demon grabbed me by the neck, I did the first thing I could think of, I started to exorcise him.

"Exorcisamus te, omnis immundus…"

I grabbed a can of salt and smashed it over the demon's head to give me some breathing space. He knocked the salt out of my hand. I was fast running out of options. I pulled Ruby's knife out of my jacket and stabbed the demon, and watched as the light faded out of his eyes and he fell to the ground. No sooner had he landed on the floor, than the other demon jumped me from behind. I reached back and stabbed him through the neck, feeling his hold slacken and then fade.

Blood. Demon blood.

The redness was flashing in front of me. Calling me. _Drink me._ Was I about to take another tumble down the rabbit hole? I turned the blade over, watching the blood flow over the steel, and then rested my thumb along it, collecting some of the blood on my own skin. All I wanted to do was put it into my mouth. But at the same time I knew that would be the end of everything, and a part of me resisted.

The door chimed.

I ducked at the sound, looking in the mirror and waiting for the next attack. I was ready this time. This time I could kill faster. But I didn't have to. It was Dean, looking around and finally setting down some bags he was carrying.

"Sammy?"

I sighed in relief. Seeing Dean like that filled me with such an overwhelming sense of calm that the need to do anything with that blood faded right away. I stood up, nodding at him over the shelving. Dean rounded the aisle and with one long look took in the whole scene of two dead bodies in front of me, the bloody knife still in my hand.

"You okay?" He asked, and I nodded, grabbing a tea towel off the shelf next to me and wiping the offending blood off the blade.

"Yeah," I said, not trusting my own voice.

"Good," he said, nodding. "Let's go."

* * *

 ** _Church Basement  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

I was having flashbacks to the first shotgun lessons I'd ever had as I watched Ellen and Sam giving lessons to Roger, the man with the glasses and the ring fetish, and Steve and Kate, the young married couple about to have a baby. While John had been the first to show me how to shoot a gun, it had been Dean who taught me the real ins and outs of handling a weapon. At the time John had seemed a bit pre-occupied with Cole, something that all made a hell of a lot more sense now that I knew they'd been dancing around their feelings for each other at the time.

I looked over at Dean talking to the priest, and sighed. I couldn't stay angry with him. Not when everything he'd ever done for me, or for Sam, was to look out for us. Like it or not, I knew he was feeling like I was siding with Sam over him lately. Maybe I had been a little, it was necessary to repair the damage that had happened. It was the only way we were going to keep Sam safe. Dean was resorting to John's tactics of shame and guilt, which would work to a degree, but Sam also needed to feel like he was a part of the family, and that was my job.

"Okay, all right," Roger said, taking a shell and starting to load the gun.

"Roger, hang on a second…" Ellen said, but he fumbled and dropped the shell on the floor.

"Sorry," he apologised.

"...then snap it in," Sam was saying to the couple, and then Dean set the butt of a rifle in front of me on table, causing me to jump while he turned to Austin, the guy who had been watching the door since we arrived.

"You know your way around a gun at all?" Dean asked and Austin smirked. I watched as the guy expertly disassembled the gun in front of us, dropping the pieces on the table. Dean contemplated this, but the respect was evident on his face.

"Hm," he said. "Where'd you serve?"

"Fallujah," Austin replied. "Two tours. Got back a little over a year ago. Takes one to know one. Where'd you serve?"

"Hell," Dean said, deadpan and I smirked. Austin snorted, his amusement clear.

"No, seriously," he asked and Dean looked him straight in the eye.

"Seriously. Hell," he said and I stood up, rolling my eyes at the pissing competition. I took the pieces of the rifle and reassembled them, drawing a look of approval from Austin.

"Well, I guess we've all got our stories," Austin said and I smiled before turning to Dean.

"I need to talk to you," I said, taking his arm and pulling him to the back of the room behind a couple of free-standing shelves.

"Listen, Beth…" I cut him off, grabbing his cheeks and pulling him in to meet my lips in a long, sensual kiss. I teased him, my tongue flicking across his lightly before engaging him in a more caressing touch of lips, tongue and breath. I closed my eyes, delighting in the way he responded without question, his hands sliding around to the small of my back and pulling me in tightly against him, pressing back against me.

"Wow, okay… what did I do to deserve that?" He asked after I pulled back. I smiled.

"You're you," I said, kissing his cheek. "I'm sorry I snapped before. I know you think I'm siding with Sam over you lately…"

"I didn't say that," he interrupted and I held up my hand.

"You didn't have to, I know what you're thinking. It's true, Dean. But it doesn't mean I don't agree with you. I'm just trying to go about things a little differently. The tough love routine isn't going to work with Sam right now."

He sighed and looked at me. "Yeah, you're right. I know," he said. Glancing behind me, I turned to follow his gaze. Sam had pulled away from the others and was sitting on his own in the corner, looking down at his hands, deep in thought.

"You should have seen him in the store, Beth," he said quietly. "I was worried for him."

"I'll talk to him," I said softly and he nodded.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," he agreed. He smiled, grabbing my face and kissing me again.

"Least I get to kiss a sexy woman before going to die," he said with a grin.

"Yeah," I said with a grin, grasping his hips and squeezing slightly as my mood changed slightly, looking around the room. "You know, I look at Kate and think, 'that could have been me, could still be me,' and it makes me want to die, Dean. She's in so much danger, and helpless to defend herself."

"Hey," Dean said, cutting me off and looking me in the eyes. "Stop. Just stop. You are anything but helpless. Even twenty weeks pregnant you kicked ass, so don't even start thinking like that."

"How could we even think about bringing a kid into this world?" I asked forlornly.

"We can't," he replied, sighing. "Which is why we have to fix it first, okay?" I nodded silently. It was so much easier said than done though. We were facing Armageddon. How many parents were prepared for that? How many children would die? Faced with that, I suddenly felt ill equipped to beat this crisis, yet I had to - not just for the children we had yet to give life to, but for the ones already living on this Earth like Ben and JJ. If for no one else, we had to do this for them.

One crisis at a time, however.

"Okay," I said. "You check in with Ellen, I'll take care of Sam."

Our younger brother was still staring at his hands when I sat next to him, leaning into his shoulder and nudging him slightly.

"Hey…"

"Hey," he replied, mustering up a smile for me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, and he looked down again, his face falling.

"It's just...at the store," he said. "Those demons were possessing teenagers. I mean, I had to slit some kid's throat."

I looked at him sadly, my mouth twitching up at the side. "You didn't have a choice, Sam."

"I know. I just...it used to be like…" He paused, sucking in a deep breath. "I just wish I could save people like I used to."

I paused, contemplating this. "You mean, like when you were using demon blood?"

"I didn't say that," Sam said and I almost laughed at the exact echo of Dean's defensive statement earlier.

"I'll be back," Ellen said, loud enough for us to hear, and I looked up to see her grabbing a gun.

"Where you going?" Dean asked.

"I can't sit here on my ass. My daughter's out there somewhere. I'm not back in half an hour, go. Get these people out of here," Ellen said. Sam and I stood up, moving quickly to join them.

"No, wait. I'll go with you," Sam said.

"Whoa, hold on. Can I talk to you for a second?" Dean asked, and he didn't wait for an answer, pulling on Sam's arm and leading him out the door to the stairway upstairs. I followed closely enough to listen in, Ellen not far behind me as she gathered some extra ammo and shoved it into her hunting jacket.

"You're gonna go out there again?" Dean asked.

"Well, crap doesn't hit the fan with coffee breaks," Sam replied.

"I'll go," Dean said.

"It's fine. Just stay here, get 'em ready. I'll cover Ellen," Sam said.

"Why's it got to be you?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot," Sam snapped, his voice prickly. "You think I'll take one look at a demon and suddenly fall off the wagon, as if, after everything, I haven't learned my lesson."

"Well, have you?" Dean asked. I sighed. After everything we'd just talked about and he was still pulling a Dad on Sam right now. Of course, that had about the same effect as if John himself had said it. Sam reacted, slamming Dean into the wall. I started after them, Ellen hot on my heels.

"If you actually think I…" Sam stopped when I touched them.

"Hey!" I said, bracing my hands between the pair of them. "This is not the time," I said. "We have a room full of scared people in there. They don't need to see us fighting among ourselves."

"Beth, come on, you know…" Sam looked at me, the frustration clear in his eyes.

"Dean loves you, Sam, just like I do. He's just trying to look after you," I said. "Although I think his technique could use some work," I added, glancing at Dean with a stern look. "I'm going with Ellen, you two can stay here and _talk._ Get these people ready to run if we're not back in half an hour."

"No," Dean said, shaking his head. "I'm not letting you two go out there on your own."

"Why of all the sexist…" Ellen's voice cut in and Dean looked guiltily in her direction. "I thought better of you Dean Winchester."

"He knows we can handle ourselves," I said, moving my hand from his chest to his cheek. "He just has a hard time letting go after everything that's happened. But we gotta split up sometimes, and you two need to sort out your issues, now. I'm going."

* * *

 ** _Outside  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

Ellen was tossing me all kinds of curious looks as we walked down the street away from the church. I kept myself focused on the task at hand, my eyes swinging from side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything to tell us where Jo and Rufus were.

"So where'd you see her last?" I asked, readjusting the shotgun I was holding to a more comfortable grip. Ellen nodded toward the intersection a few yards away.

"Up ahead," she replied. "So what's up with Sam and Dean?" Straight to the point. I glanced over at her, and then back down the street, sighing.

"It was hard not to notice, how different things are between you guys these days," she pointed out and I nodded, but I couldn't find the words to tell her why things had deteriorated. I thought about Ruby, and all the harm she had done to my family over the centuries. I thought about how Sam had lied and betrayed us, for what he thought was the greater good, but it had all been a big illusion to an even greater crisis. I didn't want to tell her who set Lucifer free, it wasn't my story to tell, especially after Bobby's reaction - demon or not talking.

Ellen watched me quietly as we walked slowly. After a few steps she picked it up again. "Lot of bad road there, huh? You and Dean, you stopped and settled down for a moment there. What happened?"

I sighed, shrugging. "Sam happened… Ellen. Sam always happens. He needed taking care of, and we picked up the job, just like we always have. You know how it is," I replied evenly. It was true. Sam was our life, he was our responsibility, he was the job.

"I'm kind of surprised though, you and Jo hunting," I said, changing the subject. "Weren't you always saying she couldn't hack the life?"

"She can't. But if she's gonna do it anyway…" Her voice trailed off and I nodded.

"You want to keep an eye on her," I replied.

"Just like you and Dean when it comes to your brother," she said with a small smile. "It was okay when I knew she was with Sam, and they were together hunting. But after they split…"

"Yeah," I said with a nod. I didn't want to admit that I'd secretly kind of hoped he and Jo would get more serious after Dean got out of Hell. I couldn't help but remember when we'd spent a few weeks at Lisa's and Dean had been trying to talk to me way back then. I had never asked him, but I suspected that he had been wanting to find a way to settle down then, get out of the life. Then Sam and Jo had a fight and the promise of that life had slipped away.

I shook my head to clear it. No point in thinking back on things we couldn't change. I paused, smelling wood burning, and when I looked down the street I thought I could see smoke rising from behind trees.

"Hey," I said, pointing and Ellen followed my direction.

"Is that a chimney going?" She asked.

"Looks like it," I said, starting to quicken my pace. "Come on."

I wove us through a little side street and across someone's backyard until we reached a shed beside an old Victorian style house. Peering around the corner, I saw someone come to the window and look out. It was a black-eyed demon.

"Guess we found base camp," Ellen said.

I frowned, something not sitting right in my stomach. "Demons don't get cold. Makes you wonder what they're burning." I took a step forward, and then heard a gasp as Ellen was grabbed from behind. I whirled around, slamming the butt of my shotgun into a demon. Then another demon came forward, pinning Ellen to the wall with another gun as Jo stepped forward.

"Don't move, you evil skank!" Jo's shouted as the first demon pounced grabbed my gun and wrestled it from my hands. He was strong, and I felt the gun pulled from my grip and then he hit me with it. I gasped, the feeling the sharp pain ricochet through my body. Reacting, I threw all my weight into a frontal attack, slamming the demon into a wall. The demon holding Ellen let her go, turning to help his buddy, and Jo pressed her gun to Ellen, holding her in place.

"Don't you hurt her, don't you…"

"Give me my mom back, you black-eyed bitch!" Jo snapped, cutting Ellen off. Her mother shoved her, and slammed her with the butt of the gun. I was fast getting overpowered, and I knew it, two on one wasn't working.

"Ellen! Run!" I yelled. She had to go and get Dean and Sam.

I cocked my gun, intending to shoot one of the demons and then felt everything start to spin as a sharp pain shot through my head and I was propelled to the ground. I saw Ellen running as Jo climbed to her feet, coming to stand over me. I found myself looking up into two familiar faces, but both with the terrifying black eyes of a demon.

"Got you now, you bastard," Rufus said with a smirk.

* * *

 ** _Base Camp House  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

I woke up tied to a chair and in front of a roaring fireplace, the source of the smoke that had led us here. I yanked on the ropes, but they were tied tight, I wasn't getting out of them without a miracle. I looked up to see Rufus and Jo watching me. Jo was holding a gallon jug of water, and as I looked around, I found myself in a devil's trap.

"Uh-uh," Rufus said in response to my testing the ropes. "No way you're getting out of those. Did you up myself. You're stuck right where I want you, you evil son of a bitch." He reached out and backhanded me, and at the same time Jo threw water in my face, drenching me. I glared at her, and she watched, waiting for the holy water to take effect and when it didn't, confusion crossed her black-eyed face. Rufus grabbed my neck, forcing my head back, and I fought.

"No, wait, wait, wait," I said, feeling panic rising in my chest. What the hell was he going to do now?

Jo stepped around me, putting down the jug of water, coming to stand behind me. Something was terribly wrong: they were treating me like _I_ was possessed. Yet they were the ones with black eyes.

"Just, just wait," I reiterated, trying to calm the situation down, but they were having none of it. Rufus forced my mouth open and poured salt into it. I choked on the bitterness that flooded my mouth.

"Exorcisamus te, exorcisamus te, omnis satanica…" Rufus was trying to exorcise me. Me? What the hell was going on here?

"Stop!" I called out as soon as I could catch a breath.

"...omnis immundum…"

"Please! Just listen…" I continued as he ignored me. Oh this wasn't good. I hoped Ellen was having a better time of things.

* * *

 ** _Church Basement_**

 **Dean's POV**

They hadn't been gone long, but I was already regretting letting Beth go out there with Ellen alone. What was I thinking? The civvies were all starting to get on my nerves, sitting around the table and praying. The pastor was leading them in the latest version, one Beth actually liked, but man I was going to shoot someone soon.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He layeth me down in green pastures, and he raiseth me up again. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil."

There was a pounding on the door and I jumped, moving instantly for it. I checked the peephole, then removed the brace against the door, letting Ellen come inside. Instantly I knew something was wrong.

"Where's Beth?"

She shook her head and sat down next to Kate, who handed her a bottle of water.

"They took her? Demons took her? Oh my God! What if they're in here? The demons?" Kate said.

"Could they get in?" The Pastor asked and I shook my head.

"No." I said, looking over at Sam. I grabbed a shotgun and headed for the door.

"Everybody sit tight. I got to…"

"Dean!" Sam called out, and I stopped, sighing. I knew what he was going to say without him even saying it. We had to get these people to safety. Beth would want it.

I stopped, hand resting on the door. Every inch in my body telling me I had to go and get Beth. Yet I needed to be smart about this. If they'd had enough demons to overpower Beth and Ellen, then going at this all ad hoc wasn't going to save her. I grimaced, not liking what it meant, every second was a second she might be hurting, or worse. But these people were depending on me.

"Okay, we need to get a plan together. Tell me everything," I said, looking at Ellen.

* * *

 ** _Base Camp  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

Jo had me by my hair, yanking my head back. Rufus was pouring salt down my mouth again, and it wasn't working.

"Please! Come on!" I spat out, thinking surely they weren't this dumb.

"—omnis immundus—" Rufus started to hesitate, looking down at me. Jo let go and picked up the water jug again.

"Look! Something's not right! Do you see that?" I asked. "Come on Jo, surely you can see something isn't right here." Her response was to splash me in the face with water again. I spat out a mouthful of water, kind of relieved that it took away the sharpness of the salt.

"Come on! Stop! Listen to me!"

I looked up, trying to get her to see reason. Jo moved to get something from nearby and I spotted Roger from the church standing in the doorway, watching. I frowned. What was he doing here? He smiled, and then turned the ring on his hand. I looked up at the devil's trap drawn on the ceiling - that was a trick of my Dad's, good to see Jo had been paying attention.

"Listen!" I said.

"Why isn't it working?" Jo asked, talking quietly to Rufus.

"I don't know," Rufus said, and my blood ran cold at the way the both looked back at me.

"Look, listen to me, something's not right!" I said again. "You can see that. Please. Please. Just listen to me."

"But she's not as strong as she thinks she is," Rufus said.

* * *

 ** _13 Years Ago  
Wilmington, Delaware_**

 **Beth's POV**

 _They'd been gone half the night. Sam was in one bed reading a school book, while I took the other and munched on potato chips while lounging on my stomach and watching Teen Wolf._

 _"You know what, people would absolutely die if they knew werewolves were actually real," I said to no one in particular. I was already missing Dean, who would completely agree with me as we pulled the movie apart. Sam smiled indulgently over at me, but didn't comment._

 _"Beth!" I jumped, hearing John's voice on the other side of the door as his fist pounded against it. I sprung to my feet, pulling it open and nearly fainted at the sight of all the blood._

 _"What happened?" I asked as John pulled Dean into the room, laying him on the empty bed. I shut the door, turning to look at him as the blood drained from my face. "Is he…?"_

 _"He'll be fine, get the first aid kit out of the car," John instructed. I couldn't move, my feet were glued to the floor. I'd never seen Dean look so sick, his skin was pale, he was shaking and groaning._

 _"Beth!" John's voice snapped me back to the present and I nodded wordlessly, opening the door and going outside._

 _"He'll be fine, he'll be fine, he'll be fine," I muttered to myself as I opened the trunk and rummaged around in the compartment for the first aid kit. Finding it, I slammed down the door and ran back inside. John had stripped Dean's jeans off, and had Sam pressing a towel to his upper left thigh._

 _"Here," John said, holding his hand out. "Get me a bowl of hot water, and the whiskey. Dean groaned and I hurried to follow out his orders. "This is gonna hurt, but I can't risk taking you to the hospital, not here… they're going to know where this wound came from, and by now they'll be looking for whoever took out that lamia."_

 _"You killed it?" I asked, returning with the water and putting it by the bed._

 _"Yeah, but not before it got at Dean," John muttered. He got this far away look in his eyes and started to concentrate while Dean's breathing got shorter and more hurried. "You're going to have to hold him," he said to me, nodding toward Dean. "Sam, get your belt."_

 _Dean looked so pale, I felt my heart racing with fear that he might die. He opened his green eyes to look at me, and I could see the pain there, but there was no fear. I slipped behind him, supporting his back with my chest. I put one leg up on the bed, resting it down the side of him, and wrapped my arms around his mid-section, lacing my fingers across his torso. His breath caressed my cheek as he turned his head to look at me._

 _"I'll be okay Beth, don't worry," he said, then he hissed as John poured whiskey over the open wound. There were four claw marks cut into his flesh, every one of them was going to need stitches._

 _"Oh my god…" I gasped, looking at them. Sam placed the belt in Dean's mouth and John looked up at him._

 _"Bite down," he said. "I'll do this as fast as I can, son." Dean complied, nodding his head, and then he closed his eyes and leaned back into me._

 _"Hold him tight," John said, looking at me and I nodded, my arms instinctively pulling Dean closer to me. "Talk to him."_

 _"Okay, uh… yeah, okay. Hey Dean, you remember… you remember how last month, when we were … when we were training at Bobby's? And you got the short straw and had to fight Cole, and she pummelled you? Well, I might have lied… I got the short straw. That totally should have been me." I confessed._

 _Dean groaned, and I felt him push back against me, biting down on the leather belt in his mouth as John started to sew. "I was too scared to take her on, she's crazy, you know that right? I figured you had a better chance than me against her…" Sam sniggered and Dean glared at him, and I knew what he was thinking. Cole had a way of going for his crown jewels, even when we were just sparring. Dean always seemed to cop the bad end of that._

 _"So, uh, you need to live through this so I can make it up to you, okay? Because I owe you one. I owe you heaps, actually. You have at least six months worth of me owing you." I kept babbling away as John worked, stitching quickly and effectively – his movements those of someone who had done this way too often. Dean's breath got shallow and then he passed out, his body slumping against mine. I couldn't let him go. Finally, John finished his gruesome task and got up to get something from the bathroom. Sam look anxiously on as I closed my eyes against the offending wound._

 _"You can't leave us Dean, please, Sam and I need you."_

 _There was a soft groan and then Dean pushed back against me. "I'm not going anywhere."_

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

 ** _Church Basement  
_** **Dean's POV**

"Dean, one of them's in Jo. We got to get it out without hurting her," Ellen said as we sat at the table, going over our options of attack. She snorted, shaking her head. "It called me a bitch."

I smirked, raising my eyebrow at her. "Bruise a little easy, don't you think?"

"No, that's not what I meant. It called me a black-eyed bitch," Ellen said. I paused, thinking this over. Why would they be thinking we were possessed?

"What kind of demons are these? Holy water and salt roll right off. My daughter may be an idiot, but she's not stupid. She wears an anti-possession charm. It's all kind of weird, right?"

I nodded. "The whole thing's off," I said, looking around.

"What's your instinct?" She asked and I scoffed, running a hand across my tired face.

"My instinct? My instinct is to call Bobby and ask for help. Or Beth. Or Jefferson. They're the Apocalypse experts."

"Well, tough. All you got's me and Sam, and all I got's you. So let's figure it out," she said with a scowl. Sam came and sat down with us, nodding at her last sentence.

"All right," he said, his puppy dog eyes looking worried. He turned to Ellen. "Do you know why Rufus came to town? Was there a specific omen?"

"He said something about water. That's all I know," she said.

I turned to look at the Pastor who was listening to the conversation. "Padré, you know what she's talking about—the water?"

The pastor paused, thinking it over and then nodded. "The river. Ran polluted all of a sudden."

"When?" I asked.

"Last Wednesday," Austin, the ex-militia man said. "And the demon thing started up the next day."

"Anything else?" I asked. "Anything."

"Maybe," Austin said with a shrug, "but it's pretty random."

"Good," Sam said, standing up and nodding. "Random's good."

"Shooting star—does that count?" Austin asked. I looked at Sam, and then Ellen. "Real big," Austin continued. "Same night. Wednesday."

"That definitely counts." I said with a nod. I had an idea. It was out there, but given our circumstances, maybe it wasn't that far off. I stood up, walking quickly to the bookshelf and looking for a Bible I knew I'd seen Beth flipping through earlier. I grabbed it and brought it back to the table, starting to flip through the pages to the back.

"So, uh, you think that all this comes from outer space?" Austin asked.

"This isn't X-Files, pal," I retorted, still looking through the thin pages. I knew what I was looking for, and then I came to it, starting to read aloud.

"'And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died.'" I looked up and the Pastor was looking closely at me.

"Revelation eight ten," he said. "Are you saying that this is about the apocalypse?"

"You could say," I said with a nod. "And these specific omens, they're prelude to what?"

"The Four Horsemen," the pastor replied. I thought about what we'd seen earlier and nodde.d

"And which one rides the red horse?"

"War," he answered.

I looked at Sam. "That cherry Mustang parked on Main." He nodded in agreement.

"You can't think that a car…" protested the Pastor.

"It's the way I'd roll," I said dismissively. Seemed clear as day what we were dealing with now that I'd read this. "I mean, think about it. It all makes sense. If War is a dude and he's here, maybe he's messing with our heads."

"Turning us on each other," Ellen said with a nod.

"You said Jo called you a black-eyed bitch. They think we're demons, we think they're demons. What if there are no demons at all and we're all just killing each other?" Sam said.

"Wait, just back up. It's the apocalypse?" The Pastor asked.

I looked at him a little sheepishly and shrugged. "Sorry, Padre," I replied. Hell of a way to find out.

Now I just had to figure out how to use this to my advantage, and to get Beth back. Maybe, if we were lucky, Rufus and Jo had her and they were trying to figure out why the salt and holy water wasn't working. Hopefully Beth would be able to convince them something was wrong.

* * *

 ** _Base Camp  
_** **Beth's POV**

I was alone when Roger joined me in the room. He entered the room without any pretense, he knew that I was on to whatever he was up to. I just didn't have all the pieces lined up right in this moment.

"Who the Hell are you?" I asked. He replied by taking off his glasses and looking at me with a little smile "What… are you?"

"You caught me," he replied at the last question. "Popped in to watch, I can hustle like that," he said.

"So, the Roger everyone around here knows, the real Roger?" I asked.

"Buried in a ditch," he replied, not surprisingly. I rolled my eyes and nodded while Roger closed the door, moving to another chair and sitting down in front of me.

"So who are you?" I asked again.

"Here's a hint," he said, looking amused with himself. "I was in Germany. Then in Germany. Then in the Middle East. I was in Darfur when my beeper went off….I'm waiting to hook up with my siblings... I've got three. We're going to have so much fun together."

I nodded, feeling my heart kind of skip a beat. I was sitting in a room with a Horseman. Not just any horseman, but it had to be War. Suddenly everything else made sense.

"I know who you are," I said, sighing. "There aren't any demons in town, are there?"

"Nope. Just frightened people ripping each other's throats out. I really haven't had to do too much. Take out a bridge here, lay in a little hallucination there, sit back, pop some corn, watch the show. Frankly, you're really vicious little animals, Elizabeth."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "You're doing this."

"Please. Last week, this was Mayberry. Now these people are stabbing each other's children."

"Because you made them see demons!" I snapped, tugging at the bonds holding me again. I wanted to reach forward and rip this guy's throat out.

"Honestly, people don't need a reason to kill each other. I mean, you seen the Irish? Hell, you _are Irish._ They're all Irish."

I rolled my eyes.

"You think I'm a monster," War said. "I'm jello shots at a party. I just remove inhibitions."

"I'm gonna kill you myself," I promised.

He laughed at that. "

"Oh, that's adorable," he said. "You, the angel vessel, married to the fallen righteous man? Your own brother is my poster boy!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, honing in on the comment about Sam.

"You think he's clean?" He asked. "He can't stop thinking about it, ever since he saw it dripping off the blade of that knife." I shook my head, even though somewhere I was terribly afraid he was right. I would defend Sam until the end regardless.

"You're wrong," I said.

"Save your protests for your husband. I can see inside his head. And man, it is one-track city in there. Blood, blood, blood. Lust for power. Same as always. He wants to be strong again. But not just strong. Stronger than everybody. Good intentions—quick slide to hell. You're worried about Sam now? Wait till you're thigh deep in warm corpses. Because, my friend, I'm just getting started."

He rose to his feet, giving me a smug look and putting his glasses back on. "Showtime for the meatsuits. Watch this." He twisted his ring, and I saw blood trickle down his forehead from an unknown wound in his skill. He kicked over his chair, dropped to the floor and screamed. Rufus couldn't have been far, because within seconds he kicked the door open, and Jo was right behind him.

War looked up and then pointed at me, showing them a hand covered in blood. "She did it!"

"No!" I protested.

"He said they're coming! He said they're coming to get us!" War lied and I shook my head, looking urgently at Jo.

"No, stop! Jo, Rufus, he's lying! No!"

"You shut your mouth!" Rufus snapped.

"Please! Jo! He's lying," I said, pleading with the girl. Rufus raised his hand and backhanded me, I felt the impact rock my head to the side and I groaned.

* * *

 ** _Church Basement  
_**

 **Dean's POV**

Without the demon threat, I was feeling a lot more confident about getting us out of this basement, and then finding Beth.

"So now you're saying that there are no demons and war is a guy?" Austin asked.

"You believed crazy before," I pointed out. Someone started to hammer on the door and a familiar voice shouted from the other side.

"Open up! It's Roger!"

Austin checked the peephole, nodding and opening the door to let Roger into the room. The guy was out of breath, gasping for air as he waved his hand in the air.

"I saw them, the demons. They know we're trying to leave. They said they're gonna pick us off one by one."

"Wait wait wait. What?" I asked skeptically.

"I thought you said there were no demons," Austin said suspiciously.

"There's not. Where did you go?" I questioned Roger, and the man did a double-take at the fact that suddenly we were past the demon story.

"I thought someone should go out and see what's going on!" He said.

"Where did you see the demons and what did they say exactly?" I asked.

"We just sit here, we're going to be dead," Austin said.

"No, we're not!" I snapped.

"They're gonna kill us unless we kill them first," Roger said. He was clearly delusional, trying to incite these people into a frenzy. I looked at Sam and Ellen, realising that if I didn't get a grip on the situation, people were about to get stupid.

"Hold on. Hold on," I said, holding out a hand.

"No, man, we got people to protect. All right, the able-bodied go hunt some demons," Austin said, the military raising to the surface. He was done taking orders, and we were out of time. Austin picked up a gun and handed it to Steve.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Slow your roll. This is not a demon thing," I said, trying to calm the escalating situation. I saw Roger hold up his hand, and he touched the ring he was holding then winked at me. Winked?

"Look at their eyes! They're demons!" He exclaimed, pointing at Sam, Ellen and I. Kate gasped, recoiling as we looked at her. The Pastor raised a shotgun. Time had just run out.

"Go, go!" I yelled to Sam and Ellen and they turned, running for the exit. "Move!" Austin shot, but the only damage done by the time he took aim was to the door as I left it in my wake.

* * *

 ** _Base Camp_**

 **Dean's POV**

Ellen had led us to the house where she'd been separated from Beth. I looked around and nodded at the window, seeing Rufus messing with what looked like a line. "You know I hear Rufus likes his pipe bombs," I pointed out, and Ellen sighed.

"Well, we're gonna have to set that off without losing an arm or a leg," she commented and Sam nodded.

"I got it. Dean you take the porch and go in the side, try to lead Rufus away while Ellen and I get Jo," Sam said. I didn't like the idea of having to sort out Rufus on my own, the old coot was a bit scary if I was going to be perfectly honest, but I was less worried about hurting him than I was Jo, so maybe it was a better option.

We waited for them to move away from the window, and then Sam crept forward. I went in another direction and after a moment I heard the explosion as the pipe bomb was set off. I watched from the side porch through a window, seeing dust and smoke kick up from the bomb, and then Jo and Rufus moved toward the rubble. I slid along the wall and waited for Rufus to look through the window, and when he did I reacted, grabbing him and pulling him out on to the porch.

"Rufus!" Jo exclaimed, and then there was the sounds of a struggle inside as Sam and Ellen grabbed her.

I slammed Rufus to the ground, and then hauled him to his feet, ramming him against the wall of the house. "Listen to me," I said to him. "I'm not a demon. Think, Rufus. All those omens."

"You go to Hell," Rufus spat at me. He raised a knee right into the crown jewels and I doubled over with a groan, catching a hit to the chest and face. Rufus lunged for me, dropping his gun, and I grabbed his shirt, pushing him back up against the wall.

"Rufus! The polluted water, the shooting star, the red Mustang—it's War. I'm telling you, it's War."

"You're damn right it is," he muttered, punching me in the face and then going for his gun. I sighed and tackled him to the ground, rolling him to his back and pinning him from on top.

"The Horseman!" I exclaimed.

"Horseman?" Rufus hesitated, just a little, but it was enough for me to be able to push further. I was getting through to him.

"Yes. He's turning us against each other. You're hallucinating," I pressed, and his breathing started to even out a little while he stared at me.

"The Horseman. War," he said, letting go of my collar.

"Yes."

He looked to each side of us and the smirked up at me, raising his eyebrow. "Did you figure this out all by yourself, genius?"

I snorted, and climbed to my feet, offering him a hand. "I had a little help."

"I bet you did," he said with a laugh. "Oh! Man! Jo!" We hurried back toward the house, bursting in the door, finding Ellen pointing a shotgun at us, Sam and Jo standing behind her.

"Whoa, whoa!" I said, holding my hands up

"We all on the same page?" She asked and I looked at Rufus, nodding.

"Good," Rufus said.

"Okay," Sam said. "we got to find War before everybody in this town kills each…"

Gunshots. Everyone ducked at the noise. It had to be Austin.

"Damn it!" I cursed. "Where's Beth?" My heart was racing.

"Upstairs," Rufus said. In an instant I was gone, my only thoughts on getting to her.

* * *

 ** _Upstairs  
_**

 **Beth's POV**

There had been a commotion downstairs, and now there were gunshots. We were under attack, that much was clear. Then the door opened and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dean, thank God. It's not demons," I said, overwhelming joy at seeing him rushing through the door to me.

"It's War," we said in unison, and he looked up, his eyes showing that he wasn't surprised I'd figured it out.

"I just can't figure out how he's doing it," Dean said, grabbing a knife and hacking at the ropes holding me. He cut me free and pulled me to my feet, wrapping his arms tightly around me as he squeezed me to his body.

"The ring," I said, muffled into his shoulder as I returned the hug, my arms finding their place around his neck.

"The ring…" Dean murmured. "The ring—that's right," he said, pulling back just far enough to be able to look at me, his hands still resting on my hips. "He turned it right before he made everybody hallucinate and go hellbitch."

"Right," I said with a nod. I had experienced the same thing.

"We got to move. Come on."

We made our way down the stairs carefully as there was an exchange of gunfire happening.

"It'll be that idiot Austin," Dean breathed, his back up against the wall as he peered out a window.

"People, cease fire!" I heard Rufus yell, and I chuckled as he cursed when several people continued to shoot.

"Stop shooting! Stop!" He called as we stepped into the demolished living room. I watched as he took a gun from a man and then slammed him in the head with it, turning to scowl at the sound of another gun going off.

"I'm getting too old for this," he muttered, pushing past us and back up the stairs.

"We're going after War!" Dean called out and then he grabbed my hand and led us out the back door.

"You think he'll be at the car?" I asked, running to keep up with Dean as he hurried us through the backyard and into an alley.

"It's where I'd be heading," Dean said. "Fun's over here." I nodded my agreement and we crouched low along the fence line, just in case anyone decided to take pot shots at us, but it seemed as if all the shooting had stopped.

We rounded the corner to main street and the mustang was sitting where she'd been left, the familiar figure of what had once been Roger sauntered casually up to it, seemingly unconcerned with the chaos he'd left behind him.

"Come on," Dean said and as War reached for the car door, we launched ourselves at him. Dean grabbed him from behind, holding him tight and War laughed at what was clearly the absurdity of it. I pulled out Ruby's knife, which Dean had used to cut my ropes earlier, and held it up.

"Whoa. Okay. That's a sweet little knife. But come on. You can't kill War, kiddos," was the quick reply to my action from War, he held his hands defensively in the air and Dean smirked.

"Oh, we know," he said, and I smiled, slamming War's right hand down against the mustang and following with a swift chop of the knife, severing all four of his fingers. He howled as the ring fell to the pavement and then suddenly he was just gone.

"Phew," Dean said, sinking back on the car. I reached down and grabbed the ring, the adrenaline hitting me hard as I caught my breath. I stepped back toward Dean, who pulled me into his arms and held me as we both breathed a sigh of relief.

"I hate this," I said, burying my face into the side of his neck and breathing deeply.

"I know, me too," he said.

"It's only going to get worse," I added, a sense of panic starting to raise in my chest.

"You don't know that," he said softly, his arms tightening around me. One of his hands came up to brush the hair back from my face, lifting my chin up so he could look into my eyes.

"You did good, we just got to keep fighting whatever they throw at us," he said with a smile. I returned the smile and kissed his lips quickly before laying my head on his shoulder again.

"Thank god you're here," I said. "I couldn't do this without you."

"Me neither," he replied as he kissed my forehead. "Come on, let's go check on Sam and Jo."

* * *

 ** _13 years ago  
Wilmington, Delaware_**

 **Dean's POV**

 _Sam and Beth hadn't left me alone in the few hours since we'd gotten back to the motel. They begrudgingly followed orders to pack up the room and put our things in the car while I lay on the bed feeling weak, sore and sick. Dad was on the phone, already moving on to the next job despite the fact that I'd just copped a major blow._

 _"_ _Yeah, he's fine," I heard him say. "No, no I can't leave them here. Dean should see a doctor, but not here, they'll know – I need to get us over the border…" I sighed and leaned back against the pillows Beth had piled around me and closed my eyes._

 _"_ _Okay, we'll be there. No, no she's just a kid, she's not hunting. You'll have to find numbers elsewhere," Dad was finalising things and I pretended I was asleep as he wandered into the room from the bathroom. Beth had gone on her second ever hunt just a few months ago, but she was far from ready for the big jobs. Frankly, I was starting to hope she never joined us in hunting, as much as I wanted her with us._

 _"_ _Dean?"_

 _I smiled at the sound of her voice, opening my eyes to find I was suddenly alone in the room. "Hey," I muttered, looking curiously around the room. "Where is everyone?"_

 _"_ _You fell asleep, Dad didn't want to move you," she said. "He took Sam to get some food for the trip."_

 _"_ _How long have I been out?" I asked._

 _"_ _Not long, maybe half an hour," she said, crawling on to the bed and laying alongside me. "How do you feel?"_

 _"_ _Like every part of me is broken," I admitted. "Stings like Hell."_

 _Beth looked sympathetically at me and I reached out, pulling her against me so she could rest her head on my chest._

 _"_ _You scared me half to death," she said._

 _"_ _You and me both," I replied, leaning my cheek against the top of her head._

 _"_ _Sam had a panic attack, I think," she said seriously and I felt my heart stop._

 _"_ _Yeah?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, he saw you and… well after you passed out for a bit he got all these chest pains and started to hyperventilate. I think that's why Dad took him for a drive too," she explained. "It was a pretty scary sight."_

 _"_ _You didn't freak out," I said._

 _"_ _I knew you'd be okay," she replied quietly._

 _"_ _Oh?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, you have to be Dean. We need you."_

 _I thought about this, wrapping an arm around her and squeezing. One of the reasons I liked having Beth with us so much was because she could help share the burden of looking after Sam. I'd been doing it for so long on my own, not that I begrudged him that, it was only that in the last year I'd been wondering whether there was something more to life._

 _"_ _I need you guys too," I said softly. "Always will."_

* * *

 ** _Present Day  
Mountain Rest Area_**

 **Dean's POV**

I wanted to sleep for a week. I'd slipped War's ring into my jeans, and I could almost swear it wanted to burn a hole right through me. I was uncomfortably conscious of the fact it was there, and ever alert that I might lose it. We'd stopped for a bathroom break and something to eat after leaving Rufus, Ellen and Jo to sort out the mess at River Pass.

Looking at the ring now, it was innocent enough. Simple, plain, and just like _the one ring_ in Lord of the Rings. Nothing evil ever screamed _evil._

 _"_ So, pit stop at Mount Doom?" I asked Sam, as he sat pensively opposite me at the picnic table. Beth was in the nearby convenience store, and he'd been silent for almost the entire journey to this point.

"Dean…"

I knew he was in one of those self-deprecating moods where he was looking to be chastised, or something. I just didn't have the energy for it. I was tired.

"Sam… let's not," I started but he threw me a frustrated look which stopped me from going further.

"No, listen," Sam said. "This is important. I know you don't trust me." I looked away, dreading this conversation going any further. I couldn't deny that I was worried about him, that if I'd had my way in River Pass he would have been isolated from contact with the demons – had there been any.

"Just, now I realize something. I don't trust me either," Sam continued. I looked up, surprised at him. He nodded and continued.

"From the minute I saw that blood, only thought in my head...and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it, it feels true, you know? But I think, underneath...I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am."

Sam paused, his eyes wandering to the store behind me, and then coming back to look at my face.

"Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, I, what I did, I can't blame the blood or Ruby or...anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that...scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse..."

"So what are you saying?" I asked.

Sam sucked in a breath, his face twisting into that pained, unhappy look he got when he was about to punish himself for something.

"I'm in no shape to be hunting," he said. "I need to step back, 'cause I'm dangerous. Maybe it's best we just...go our separate ways."

I pondered what he was saying. Silently considering the idea that maybe he should go his separate way for a bit. Beth and I had a hell of a fight on our hands if we were going to take down the devil, and truth be known, I couldn't ensure that Sam wouldn't get hurt in the process. I couldn't ensure that we wouldn't all get killed. The difference was, I didn't have a hope in hell of convincing Beth to stay out of this fight – but maybe, just maybe if I cut Sam loose he'd have the good sense to get out of hunting, find a girl, settle down. Everything Beth and I wanted to do, but couldn't.

"Well," I said finally. "I think you're right."

Sam looked at me with a surprised expression. "I was expecting a fight."

I shrugged. "The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than about doing the job right. I worry about you more than I do Beth, and that's saying something. And right now, I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now."

Sam nodded, looking down at his hands. "I'm sorry, Dean."

"I know you are, Sam," I said, my voice breaking a little. I didn't know what to say. Was I really letting my little brother walk away? I'd fought so hard to keep him in the hunt all those years ago when he left for Stanford, now I was just waving him goodbye?

Sam stood up and I panicked for a moment. "Hey, do you, uh, wanna take the Impala?" I asked, reaching for something, anything to keep that connection that was fading fast. He shook his head and smiled.

"Nah, it's okay," he replied as Beth walked up carrying a tray of coffees and a bag of doughnuts.

"Hey, where you going?" She asked as Sam picked gathered his phone from the table.

"He's leaving," I said and she frowned.

"What? Why?"

"I shouldn't be hunting right now, Beth. I need to take a break, regroup, get my head on straight," Sam replied, barely able to look at her.

"That's crazy. You shouldn't go off on your own, anything could happen," she protested, putting the coffees and doughnuts on the table.

"Beth, let him go," I said quietly, looking down at my hands.

"No!" Beth said, shaking her head and rounding the table toward Sam. "No, this is crazy. Every time we split up something bad happens. Every time. You'd think we'd learn something from that."

"It's okay," Sam said with a reassuring smile that looked genuinely like he believed what he was saying.

"No, it's not," she argued, grabbing his arm. "Look we've had our problems, I won't deny that. But. At the end of the day you're my brother, Sam."

"I know Beth, and I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. Both of you. This is something I need to do for myself," he replied, kissing her on the cheek and then taking a few steps toward the car. He hesitated, turning to look back at us with a sad smile.

"Take care of yourself, guys," he said. Beth stared, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you too, Sammy," I replied when she said nothing. Sam nodded and walked over to the Impala, pausing just long enough to grab his backpack out of the back seat, and duffel from the trunk. Then he wandered toward a pickup truck that was parked nearby. They spoke for a moment, before the driver nodded and Sam rounded to the passenger side.

* * *

 ** _Beth's POV_**

"Sam!" I called out, finally moving my legs to give chase. I caught him as he reached the side of the vehicle.

"Beth…" What I saw in Sam's eyes when he said that gave me pause for thought. What was I holding on so tightly for? Wasn't this what I wanted all along? Sam safe, out of the hunt, and living his own life? I sucked in a breath. No. He should stay with us, bad things happened every time he went off on his own. These things and more rattled around in my head, and finally I sighed.

"Okay… you need to do this, fine. But you keep in touch, Sam. You call me, at least once a week and tell me where you are, how you are, okay?" I said.

"Okay," he said with a smile.

"Promise me," I replied sternly, giving him my strict no-nonsense look.

"I promise, Beth," he said. "I'm sorry."

My heart broke, but I couldn't let him see it. "You take care of yourself, Sammy. Be safe. And find that… normal life, huh?"

"Yeah. You too Beth. Take care of Dean. Maybe you should go back to Blue Earth, try that retirement thing again?" He said and I turned to look at Dean who was staring at the ring again, lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah… I think that chicken flew the coop," I said, turning back to Sam.

"It's never too late, Beth," he argued. But he was wrong.

I shrugged, throwing my hands up in the air. "There's a war coming. Like it or not, we were bred for this - Dean and I. You got out, you know a different life. We don't. I'm not sure retirement is in our blood."

Sam considered this, watching me and then looking over at Dean. "Well, maybe when this is all over."

"Yeah, maybe," I said, though I didn't really believe it.

Sam looked at the driver and sighed. "Look, I gotta go," he said, holding his hand up to the man who had been waiting patiently for us to finish speaking. "Goodbye Beth." He stepped forward and enveloped me in a big hug, squeezing tight and I grabbed hold of him, fighting back the fear that I might never see him again. Then he was gone, the truck moving down the road, and me standing there watching it go.

I wasn't alone as the truck turned the corner, heading back to the interstate. Dean had joined me and slipped his arm around my waist and I leaned heavily against him with a sigh.

"He thinks we should go back to Blue Earth, give up hunting too," I said.

"What do you think?" Dean asked.

"I think we have a war to fight, and nothing is ever that simple with us," I replied.

"Yeah…"

"Do you think we'll ever get that, Dean? To be happy?" I asked, turning to look at him. He smiled, squeezing me against his side.

"I am happy - every day, with you," he replied and I couldn't help but smile at the sentiment.

"I know," I said, "but that's not what I asked."

He was quiet for a moment, nodding silently and then looking up at me. "Yes," he said, determined.

"Yes?"

"Absolutely we will," he replied. "I made a promise, and I keep my promises."

"Just not right now," I said softly.

"No," he said just as quietly. "We've got a mess to clean up."

I let out a long breath and nodded, looking back in the direction Sam had gone. "Yeah…"

"I started this," Dean said.

"Dean…"

"No, Beth. I wasn't strong enough, I caved when I was in Hell and I started all this," he said without any hesitation. "By God, I'm going to do whatever it takes to end it."

"We all failed," I said.

"You didn't."

"I didn't keep Sam safe, I let him leave with Ruby… I let her manipulate him like a finely tuned violin," I said, voicing the one thing I hadn't said to Dean yet.

"That's not your fault."

"Yes it is Dean," I said, turning so I could wrap my arms around him. "I fell in a heap because I lost " you. And I lost my focus."

Dean didn't say anything for a moment, just held me as we thought about all the ways in which we could have done better. "Well," he said finally. "I'm back now - and we're going to set things right. The Angels want a weapon in me? They can shove it - I'm nobody's puppet. We'll find another way."

"Together," I said, looking into those determined green eyes. "Promise me."

"I promise," he said with a nod. "I'm never leaving you again."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: How Far We've Come by Matchbox20

* * *

I was watching the latest episode of Supernatural while working on this and **OMG** I cannot WAIT until I get my angelic mythology mixed in with this. I **hope** to make the story even _more interesting_ and intriguing. I'm excited, and I know I've got a long, long way to go until I get to season 11, but I am looking forward to the ride!

* * *

Hello to all the new readers, and thank you so much to everyone who has either PMed or left a review – it really means a lot to me and keeps me motivated to keep writing :D I'm glad you've enjoyed the road so far, and continue to do so as we head into Season 5.

* * *

Don't forget we do have a Facebook page, which I try to remember to update, and throw things on when I'm in between stories, so come pay us a visit! Just search for Dean & Beth Supernatural Fanfic and you should find us :D


	3. Free to be you and me

_Hold onto me, hold onto me_

 _Don't you ever leave, Don't you ever leave_

 _I know I've got my problems and it's probably me_

 _So hold onto me, hold onto me_

 _Stayed up too late and it hurts to breathe_

 _Said it's 4 A.M., girl go back to sleep_

 _Sometimes at night I can hear her dreams_

 _Come rescue me, Come rescue me_

 _Don't you ever leave, Don't you ever leave_

 _I know we got our problems and it's probably me_

 _So hold onto me, hold onto me_

* * *

 **FREE TO BE YOU AND ME**

* * *

 **Sam's Journal  
June 4 - Garber, Oklahoma**

 _Start of a new life today. Never really done this journal thing before - that was more Beth, and even Dean - Dad's perfect hunters. But who knows, maybe there's something to writing down my thoughts, figuring out who I really am. I can't rely on the lies and fake IDs to see me through this one. I tossed all the badges, licences and other papers that had been my life for the last four years in the sink, squirting lighter fluid on to them and setting them on fire. The irony is that, even as I watched them all burn, I knew I would be taking on a new name for this life. Keith. Doesn't quite seem to suit me, but it'll do. I found a job at the local bar, busboy, cleaning tables and other people's messes. But it's a darn sight more appetising than the mess I've left Dean and Beth to deal with. I'm grateful to be working again, just putting in a regular 9 to 5, so I have the opportunity to get my head on straight._

 _I keep dreaming of Jess. She haunts me. Just a ghostly figure who lays in my bed and tells me she misses me as much as I do her. It's just a figment of my imagination, my subconscious trying to tell me that we've been down this road before - we've tried to run away from our problems and it got us nowhere. But I have to try. This time it's different. Once I thought I could be normal, once I thought I could have a simple life. Now I know I'm a freak, and I know that it'll never be that easy. Not for me. She says she's trying to protect me. Protect me? My subconscious is trying to keep me from repeating mistakes. But I'm okay this time, I know who I am, what I am; this time it will be different. This time no one I love has to die for me._

* * *

 **Beth's Journal**

 **June 10 - Greeley, Pennsylvania**

 _We've been here a few days working a new case. Exsanguinated victims - vampires, or so it seems to us. Dean is focused on the job, silent on Sam, but otherwise more or less normal. It's like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders a little. Cole has collected Bobby and is taking him back to Sioux Falls, and I've half a mind to push for spending a week or two in Cicero with Lisa and Ben on our way back to check on him. I think a little normal family time might be good for Dean, help him remember what it is that he's fighting for._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Greeley, Pennsylvania**_

 **Dean's POV**

 _One vamp down, his victims a bloody mess in the morgue, but taken care of - they won't be turning any time soon. Beth has been fussing over me and making sure that I'm okay about Sam, but the truth is it's kind of nice having a break from him. I thought that back at Easter, and I still do - we need this time alone._

I paused, looking up from my latest journal entry. Beth turned over in her sleep, reaching out for me, and when she didn't find me with her, settled for pulling my pillow into her body and cuddling that. I chucked, she was cute when she slept, and secretly I liked how she always had to be touching me when we were getting some rest. It felt good, like I mattered. I sighed, looking down at the page in front of me.

 _I need to figure out how it is that we're going to ice the Devil so that I can give Beth the life that Sam's gone looking for. She wants to visit Lisa soon, but..._

"Hey," Beth's voice drew my attention back to her, and I smiled over at her sleepy eyes blinking at me in the light of the motel room. "You coming to bed?"

"Yeah, I'm just finishing up this," I said with a nod. She smiled and stretched out again, giving me a glimpse of flesh under the sheet that was partially covering her. I felt myself instantly react, going hard, and I hurried to complete my thoughts, now suddenly fixating on something a whole lot better waiting for me.

 _Right now, I think what we need more than family time, is 'us' time, and we need to work, do what we do best._

I stood up and turned off the light on the table, plunging the room into semi-darkness. I pulled my shirt off and tossed it on the floor, dropping my pants to join it as I found myself at the edge of the bed and climbed over to Beth. I hovered over her as she rolled on to her back, and reached up to caress my cheek. "So, uh, how tired are you?" I asked with a grin.

"Not at all," answered a voice I wasn't expecting. I yelped and jumped backwards onto my feet, finding myself suddenly face to face with our favourite, trench-coat wearing angel. Castiel.

"God," I muttered, realising I was pressed almost skin to skin with the man. "Don't do that!"

"Hello, Dean… Beth," came the reply and I sighed at how he didn't seem to realise the inappropriateness of our current position.

"Hi Cas," Beth groaned, pulling the sheet up a little higher and flopping back on the pillow. She reached over and turned on the bedside table lamp, and the room was suddenly bright again, chuckling at the sight before her. She gave me an appreciative once-over, but it was kind of hard to enjoy given my current position.

"Cas, we've talked about this," I said into his face. "Personal space?"

I wasn't just talking about the fact that he was standing mere inches away from me while I was naked. It was the whole popping in to see us when we were alone, and about to get our freak on. There was nothing more frustrating than a semi-erection going flaccid at the sound of angel wings.

Castiel looked down the length of my body and then took a few steps back. "My apologies."

I sighed, and grabbed my boxers and jeans off the floor, pulling them back on before following with my t-shirt. "How did you find us?" I asked. "I thought we were flying below the angel radar."

"You are," Cas replied. "Bobby told me where you were." He looked around, noting the empty, untouched bed next to our messier and unkempt twin. "Where's Sam?" He asked.

I moved to sit on the bed next to Beth, handing her a t-shirt from my duffel. She shifted slightly, pulling it on and then threw me a grateful smile.

"Sam's taking a separate vacation for a while," I replied. "So, you find God yet? More importantly, can I have my damn necklace back, please?" I still didn't feel whole without it. It was starting to give me the heebie jeebies.

"No," Cas replied. "I haven't found him. That's why I'm here. I need your help."

Beth sat up straighter in bed, and then found her voice. "With what?" She asked.

"A God hunt?" I guessed. "Not interested."

"It's not God," Cas answered. "It's someone else."

"Who?" Beth asked.

"An archangel. The one who killed me," Cas said.

"Excuse me?" I asked. I didn't like the sound of that. Anything that could kill an angel sounded like it was worth not getting on the wrong side of. Far as I was concerned, we were not anywhere near on this archangel's watch list, and it seemed to me it was best to keep it that way.

"His name is Raphael," Cas said.

"You got wasted by a teenage mutant ninja turtle?" I asked with a smirk.

Cas ignored my comment, turning to Beth. "I've heard whispers he's walking the earth. This is a rare opportunity."

"For what?" I asked. "Revenge?"

"Information," he clarified.

I shook my head, wandered over to the minibar and pulled out a beer. I opened it and took a long pull of it while I watched Beth out of the corner of my eye. She grabbed her jeans off the floor and started to pull them on, and I started to weigh up the pros and cons of what Cas was asking.

"So, what? You think you can find this dude and he's just gonna spill God's address?" I asked.

"Yes," Cas replied. "Because we are going to trap him and interrogate him."

Now there was my problem. How on earth did you trap an angel? How on earth did you interrogate one? Demons, sure, no problem, I knew what I was doing in that department. But angels? I was way out of my league, and I wasn't afraid to admit it.

Beth walked over to Cas, looking him in the eye with a slight frown. "You're serious about this?" she asked. She turned to look at me at the same time he did. I sighed, and put the beer down on the sink before taking a step toward them.

"So what, I'm Thelma and you guys are Louise, and we're just gonna hold hands and sail off this cliff together?" I asked, drawing a smile out of Beth. Cas of course had no idea what I was talking about and that was clear as day when I looked at his expressionless face.

"Give me one good reason why I should do this," I said to them both.

"Because you're MIchael's vessel, and no angel would dare harm you," Cas replied. I looked at Beth, sighing.

"So I'm your bullet shield. What about Beth?"

"I will do my best to keep Beth safe, you know this," he replied.

"What about Ezekiel?" Beth asked, turning to Cas. He shook his head and shrugged.

"I haven't seen him since I was resurrected, and I have no idea if he's even alive. If he is, he's laying low. And the others are on their own mission which is not the same as mine."

Cas frowned and looked from me to Beth. "I need your help because you are the only ones who'll help me. Please."

I thought about it. He was right. From what Beth had told me there was a group of these renegade angels, led by a pretty strawberry blonde by the name of Sariel. They'd always been behind the scenes, and I wasn't really sure whose side they were on when push came to shove - but I was learning quickly that when it came to angels, there weren't many you could rely on. Cas had at least proven himself to us.

"All right, fine," I said after a moment. "Where is he?"

"Maine," Cas replied. "Let's go." He reached out his fingers toward the two of us, and I pulled away.

"Whoa, whoa" I said, shaking my head.

"What?" Cas asked.

"Look, Beth might be okay with all this zapping about, but the last time you zapped me someplace, I didn't poop for a week," I said to the sniggering sound of Beth laughing. "We're driving," I added.

* * *

 _ **Sam's Journal  
June 11 - Garber, Oklahoma.**_

 _There's a girl where I'm working, Lindsay, she seems to be downright hospitable to everyone she comes across. She chided me today for being all mysterious and secretive. I need to be a little less obvious about my past - leaving the New York Times crossword, completely finished, in the kitchen got her thinking and enquiring about where I'm from. It wasn't my intention to draw attention to myself in such a way. But she seems nice. Tonight she challenged me to a game of darts: she's pretty good, but no one around here stands a hope in hell of matching my skill. She lost to me, which meant she didn't get to take me to dinner and discover all my dark secrets. I hesitated for a moment, almost ready to ask her to dinner anyway - I could use a little human friendly company for a change - and then the news came on the TV, talking about the torrential hail storms and lightning strikes starting fires in Tully, and the evacuations that were taking place. George, the bartender, made a comment that struck home to me. "Is it just me or does it seem like it's the end of the world?" What was I supposed to say to that? It IS the end of the world, get ready? Because that's what I felt like I should do. Then I figured I ought to apologise, since this is all my fault. I touched base with Beth, just like I promised, they've been sorting out a vampire in Eastern Pennsylvania. She's worried about Dean. She worries about everyone. I wish she'd start worrying more about herself._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Waterville, Maine  
**_ **  
Beth's POV**

We pulled up in front of the Sheriff's Office and I peered out the windshield at the dreary brick building. Why did it seem that all the law enforcement places existed to drag your mood down into the gutter? Granted the weather wasn't helping much with that either, we'd pushed through storms, and lightning, and even had to circle around a flooding lowlands to get here. Dean was convinced things were only going to get worse, I wasn't disagreeing.

The latter sighed and climbed out of the driver's seat, stretching up and exposing a flash of skin as his shirt rode up. I smiled and resisted the urge to run my hands along it, glancing back as Castiel followed suit, exiting the Impala.

"And we're here why?" I heard Dean ask as I opened the door and climbed out.

"A deputy sheriff laid eyes on the archangel," Cas replied and I raised an eyebrow.

"And he still has eyes?" I asked rhetorically. "What's the plan?"

"We'll… tell the officer that he witnessed an angel of the Lord, and the officer will tell us where the angel is," Cas replied, in his never-ending, mind-numbing naivete.

Dean snorted as he turned to look at the angel. "Seriously?" He asked. "You're going to walk in there and tell him the truth?"

"Why not?" Cas replied.

"Because we're humans," I said with a smirk, checking my pocket for my fake ID as I watched Dean shove one inside Cas' trenchcoat.

"That's right," Dean said, adjusting Cas' collar and tie. "And when humans want something really, really bad, they lie."

"Why?" Cas asked, a confused look on his face.

"Because that's how you become President," Dean replied without batting an eyelid. I grinned and turned toward the station with a sigh. Pulling off three FBI agents was never easy, but if anyone had perfected the ruse, it was us.

* * *

 _ **Inside Sheriff's Office**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth hated these IDs, but they gave me a chuckle deep down. The fact that her name was based on a bounty hunter, while I got the name of the actual FBI agent in the movie irritated her to no end. What can I say? Jack Walsh was easier to turn into a girl's name than Alonzo. That was my story and I was sticking to it. Cas of course was going to take over Sam's ID for the time being.

The interior of the sheriff's office was pretty much like every other one we'd even been to. Grey. Bleak. Like the wrong end of a weekend-binge where you couldn't quite remember when it was that everything started to go wrong, but you were irreversibly on the ass end of it now with no real prospects.

"Deputy Framingham?" I asked of the older deputy who had been pointed out to us. The man turned around to look at us and I flashed my badge at him. "Hi. Alonzo Mosely, FBI. This is my partner, Eddie Moscone, and specialist Jacky Walsh. I paused, waiting for Cas to follow with the badge, while Beth started to raise her ID from behind us. Cas, of course, did nothing.

I stared, telepathically yelling at him. Of course only Beth could do that where he'd actually hear. Finally, with a death stare from me, and a nudge from Beth who flashed her own ID in the process, Cas caught on and plucked his badge from the pocket inside his coat, opening it for the Deputy. Upside-down. I rolled my eyes, turning it up the wrong way and shrugging at the Deputy.

"He's, uh, he's new," I explained. "Mind if we ask you a few questions?"

The Deputy raised his eyebrow at Cas, who was now looking curiously at his badge, and then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Talk here, though." he said, pointing to his right ear before turning and leading us into his office. "Hearing's all blown to hell in this one."

"That happen recently?" Beth asked, moving to lean against a locker near a window.

"Yeah. Gas station," he nodded. "Why you're here, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," I replied, taking a seat as the Deputy claimed his chair behind the desk and Cas sat beside me in the other chair. I would have frowned at him for not giving Beth the other seat, but… angel… plus, she'd pretty clearly indicated she wanted to stand, and I wasn't opposed to having one of us on our feet in case things went South.

"You mind, uh, just running through what happened?" I asked.

"A call came in," he said with a shrug. "Disturbance down at the Pump and Go on Route 4."

"What kind of disturbance?" I questioned, leaning forward curiously.

"Would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself," he replied, mirroring my body language and leaning his forearms on the desk. "We're talking a riot. Full scale."

"How many?" I asked.

"Thirty, forty, in all out kill-or-be-killed combat," the Deputy answered.

"Any idea what set them off?" Beth asked from her position by the window.

"It's angels and demons, probably," Cas replied and the Deputy looked at him, clearly confused.

"They're skirmishing all over the globe," Cas explained.

"Come again?" The Deputy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Beth and I chimed in at the same time as Castiel said 'Demons.' What the hell was he thinking?

"Nothing," Beth added again, frowning at Cas who mercifully shut up.

"Demons," I said, mind racing to cover. "You know… drink, adultery. We all have our demons, Walt."

Framington looked back and forth from Cas to me, and then shrugged. "I guess."

"Anyway," I said, sending Cas another warning look. "What happened next?"

"Freaking explosion, that's what," Framington answered. "They said it was one of those underground gas tanks, but, uh… I don't think so."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Wasn't your usual fireball," he replied, a haunted look coming into his eyes. "It was, um…"

"Pure white," Cas supplied and I saw Beth straighten up suddenly, her interest piqued.

"Yeah," the Deputy said, nodding at Cas. "Gas station was leveled. Everyone was… it was just horrible. And I see this one guy, kneeling, real focused-like… not a damn scratch on him."

"You know him?" I asked.

Framington nodded. "Donnie Finneman. Mechanic there."

"Let me guess, he just, uh, vanished into thin air?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Uh, no, Kolchak. He's down at St. Pete's," he replied. Cas turned to look at me with an intense stare.

"St. Pete's," he repeated.

"Thank you," I said, glancing at Beth who was already walking out the door.

* * *

 _ **Beth's Journal**_

 _Between my father's journals and my conversations with Castiel and Ezekiel I have managed to piece together a few things about Archangels. They are special. The first of many tiers of angels, and they were created as warriors. Their immense power and light means that not just any angelic vessel could house them, and this in turn means that it's hard for them to find vessels on Earth. Was this a plan by God, or just a design flaw? Who knows? But there is one thing I have ascertained - the genealogy of the vessels for Archangels traces back to the twelve tribes of Israel, and ultimately to the line of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve. I look at Dean and wonder just where he fits in. Who does John, or Mary for that matter, descend from - Cain, Abel, or one of the other tribes? It's mind boggling, and not something I feel like he needs to have put upon him right now._

 _This man we are going to see, Donnie, is another such person, though maybe not as sought after as Sam and Dean, he had housed the archangel Raphael, a healer, and lived to tell the tale. Well. Mostly. One can't exactly say he's talking, from the reports. I'm starting to get the impression that being a vessel for an archangel isn't nearly the same as being an angelic vessel for those in the lower hierarchies. I have no lasting effects from my time as a vessel to either Ezekiel or Cas, so this man interests me - not just as a study on angels, but as a potential outcome, should Dean say yes to Michael and survive a full on battle with Lucifer._

* * *

 **St. Pete's**

 **Beth's POV**

The scene before us was exactly as I'd imagined it from the reports. Donnie had been found at the gas station, unharmed, and shortly after he'd turned catatonic. He was an empty shell, sitting in a wheelchair and staring at the wall of his small room. We stood outside, peering in at him and I felt Dean shift uncomfortably next to me.

"I take it that's not Raphael anymore?" He asked, and I shook my head. I couldn't sense anything inside him. It was disturbing.

"Just an empty vessel," Cas replied.

"So this is what I'm looking at if Michael jumps in my bones?" Dean asked, stating the question we were both asking.

"No," Cas answered. "Not at all. Michael is much more powerful. It'll be far worse for you."

I locked gazes with Dean, feeling the colour drain out of my face and he frowned, running a hand across his face. Castiel, completely oblivious to our discomfort stepped away and started to walk down the hall toward the exit.

"Great," Dean muttered, looking back at Donnie. "Just freaking peachy."

"We'll find another way," I said, stepping up to him and placing a hand on his chest, turning his face so I could look into his troubled sea-green eyes. "I did not go out of my mind trying to get you out of Hell to have you turn into a vegetable… I have needs, mister. You've got vows to fulfill."

Dean smirked, his hands sliding along the sides of my waist to pull me a smidgen closer to him. "Oh yeah?" He asked. "Is that right?"

"Mhmmm," I nodded, kissing the bridge of his nose. "Body worship, and such…"

He smiled, kissing me back and then pulling me into him, his arms wrapping around my shoulders while he buried his hands into my hair, holding my head tightly under his chin. "How on earth do we keep getting ourselves into these situations?" He asked quietly and I squeezed him back with a shrug. Seemed we were just good at it.

* * *

 _ **Garber, Oklahoma  
**_ **Sam's POV**

The phone seemed to ring long, though in reality it was probably only a few seconds before Bobby answered.

" _Sam?"_ He asked, obviously referencing his caller ID.

"Hey Bobby," I said, a smile coming to my mouth. "How you doing?"

" _Well I aint running any marathons,_ " he retorted. " _But I'll live._ " I couldn't help but laugh, the thought of Bobby having run marathons _before_ he landed in a wheelchair was a joke.

" _Where are you?_ " Bobby asked.

"Uh, Garber, Oklahoma," I replied. "I found a town up the road showing some Revelation omens."

" _What omens?"_

"All right, listen to this," I replied, looking back at the screen on my computer where I'd been reading through a Latin version of the Book of Revelations. "And upon his rising there shall be hail and fire mixed with blood."

" _Well aint that delightful,"_ Bobby said sarcastically.

"Yeah," I said. "But we already got hailstorms and fire, so I'm guessing blood can't be too far behind."

" _Okay."_

"What?" I asked.

" _There a reason you're calling?"_ Bobby asked and I frowned. I figured that much was clear.

"Dean and Beth didn't tell you?" I asked, wondering why they would keep an update, as obvious as me no longer hunting, from Bobby.

" _They told me."_

"Yeah. So I thought you might want to find out who's in the area and put a man on this," I continued.

" _Okay,"_ Bobby said. " _Let me see if I can think of the best hunter who might be in the immediate vicinity…. Oh, that'd be you."_

"I… I can't Bobby. I'm sitting this one out," I replied, feeling the guilt rising into my gut even as I said it. Here I was, trying to get back to some semblance of normal, trying to figure out who I was and why I was here, and asking Bobby to find someone to clean up my mess.

" _Sam…."_ The warning tone in Bobbys' voice was clear, and I just couldn't handle that right now.

"I'm gotta go," I said, feeling the urge to hang up fast. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

 _ **Abandoned House  
Maine**_

 **Beth's POV**

Dean's shoulders were full of knots; I tutted to myself as I massaged them out while he stood hunched over a table, flipping through my father's journal. I knew I'd hit a particularly sore spot when he groaned and rolled his shoulder back at me.

"Well, you will get all stressed out," I joked, feeling the strain in my own body. We needed a holiday, preferably somewhere with hot springs. Dean chuckled and turned to take me in his arms, his eyes meeting mine, and then glancing behind me at someone else.

"Where've you been?" He asked, and I turned to see Castiel standing in an archway, holding an old ceramic pot.

"Jerusalem," he replied, without a hint of sarcasm or ire.

"Oh," Dean said, "how was it?"

"Arid."

Cas walked over to us and placed the jug on the table. I looked at it with a curiosity.

"What's that?" I asked finally.

"It's oil. It's very special. Very rare," Cas replied, sitting down at the table with a weary slump to his shoulders.

"Okay, so we trap Raphael with a nice vinaigrette?" Dean asked, this time with the flavour of sarcasm to his voice. I frowned, thinking about what I'd read in Dad's journal and shook my head.

"It's holy oil?" I asked, picking up the jar and looking inside. Dark, I couldn't see anything, just feel the weight of the liquid sloshing inside. Cas reached out and grabbed it from me, putting it down like I'd just tried to steal pie from Dean.

"Yes," he said. I'd read about it in Dad's journal, but he'd said it was hard to find outside of the holy land. I'd never really expected to see it here.

Dean frowned. "So this ritual of yours, when does it go down?"

"Sunrise," Cas replied.

"Tell me something,' Dean continued. "You keep saying we're gonna trap this guy. Isn't that kinda like trapping a hurricane in a butterfly net?"

"No, it's harder," Cas said.

"Do we have any chance of surviving this?" I asked, already feeling agitated that no one knew what had become of Ezekiel after his encounter with Raphael, and it had taken someone far more powerful to pull Cas back together.

"He does," Cas said, nodding at Dean.

"Wait, what?" Dean asked. "What about you, what about Beth?"

"He'll likely spare Beth, because she can influence you to say yes to Michael," Cas said with a shrug. His logic was somewhat sound, but it was still not comforting.

"So odds are you're a dead man tomorrow?" Dean asked, his brow creasing.

"Yes."

Dean was thinking hard, and then he shrugged, seeming to accept Cas's fate. "Wow. Well. Last night on Earth. What are your plans?"

"Dean!" I snapped, mouth hanging open.

"I just thought I'd sit here quietly," Cas replied in typical angel fashion.

"Dude. Come on, anything? Booze? Women?" Dean pushed and I shook my head, still gobsmacked. How could he be thinking about playing up when the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan?

Castiel looked at Dean, then over at me, before glancing away uncomfortably.

"You have been with women, before, right? Or an angel at least?" Dean asked.

The angel started to look even more uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck. Dean made a sound that seemed to be combined shock and consternation.

"You mean to tell me you've never been up there doing a little cloud-seeding?" He pushed.

Cas sighed, and threw his hands up in the air. "Look, I've never had occasion, okay?"

Dean nodded, a resolute expression crossing his face. "All right," He said, before grabbing his leather jacket from the back of the chair he'd been lying on. "Let me tell you something. There are three things I know for certain. One, _she_ loves me, God knows why," he said, grinning at me. I snorted and smiled back at him with a nod. "Two, Bert and Ernie are gay. _Three,_ you are _not_ going to die a virgin. Not on my watch. Let's go!"

He then turned on his heel, marching out the door toward the car, leaving us staring after him.

"He's waiting on me, isn't he?" Castiel asked and I nodded.

"Yep."

He sighed, but there was a little smile on his face, as together we followed Dean out to the Impala.

* * *

 _ **Sam's Journal**_

 _I called Bobby about the omens. Yes I could check them out myself, but how was that going to be any different to hunting with Dean and Beth? It's not. I either go cold turkey on this one, or not at all. That isn't as easy as it sounds. This afternoon Tim, Reggie and Steve turned up, Bobby had sent them, as requested. Tim was persistent, wanting to know why I wasn't joining them. It roused suspicion with Lindsay._

* * *

 _ **Oklahoma  
Sam's POV**_

"Hey Sam!" I heard Tim's voice, but I ignored it, continuing to collect glasses on the tray I was holding. "Sam."

"Sam?" Lindsay asked, overhearing him. "What happened to Keith?"

I put down the tray on the table I was standing next to and looked over. "Wait, what?" I asked, feigning confusion.

Lindsay waved her hand over at the hunters, who were standing around staring at me expectantly. "He called you Sam," she said pointedly.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Uh...Sam's my middle name."

Lindsay laughed. "Keith Sam? Man, I'm sorry." I smirked at her amusement and Tim stepped in.

"Well actually, it's Samuel, so it's not quite as dumb as it sounds," he said.

"Are you guys friends?" Lindsay asked, glancing between the pair of us.

"Hunting buddies," Tim replied, looking me dead straight in the eyes. "With his dad. Samuel here, is quite the hunter himself."

Lindsay's expression read as intrigued, and certainly curious as she started to put a new aspect of personality together. "Wow. You killed deer and things?"

"Yeah, and things," Tim said with an amused look. Tim was tough, one of the more hardcore of the hunters out there. He was a good guy, and we'd certainly run a few jobs with him in the past, but Dad had always said he wasn't real comfortable with the other guys he ran with, and having them around Beth. Ever since the incident in Dallas he'd been super protective over her. That had been reinforced, I realised later on, after the _Travis_ hunt where he'd tried to get fresh with Beth. To this day I couldn't believe Dad hadn't killed him.

I was starting to get the same vibe off Tim now, that Dad must have picked up on back then. Like a dog with a bone, and not worried about who got caught in the crossfire. I had to change the subject. "Um," I said, looking toward the bar. "Why don't I get you guys some drinks?"

Tim nodded and as a group they moved to a table and sat down. I quickly got some beers and then sat with them.

"Sorry," Tim apologised. "Didn't mean to bust you back there."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's all right. So what's up?"

"Bobby called," he replied.

"And?" I asked, looking expectantly at them.

"You were right," he answered. "Major demon block party going on."

"But why? What are they up to?" I asked.

"Don't know yet," Steve replied, taking a sip of his beer.

"Bobby told us you were off limits," Reggie said straight up. "That true?"

"Yeah, that's right," I said with a short nod.

"That's fine in theory and all," Tim said, shrugging. "But we could really use all hands on deck here."

"I know you could," I said with an apologetic look. "But I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"It's personal," I replied.

"Look, man," Tim started. "What baggage is so heavy it can't be stowed away for the freaking apocalypse?" I shrugged and felt that guilt starting to creep in at me.

"Like I said…"

"Yeah. You're sorry," Reggie said. "Heard it the first time."

"Suit yourself," Tim said, taking a drink. "More for us then, right?" He stood up and the others joined him.

I followed suit with a nod. "Yeah. Good luck."

"But hey," Tim called out as I started to walk away. "Beers are on you when we get back."

"Yeah," I said with a weak smile. "You bet."

Lindsay was waiting by the bar when I reached it, watching me with a cocked eyebrow. "So, your parents were drunk when they named you, and you shoot bambi?"

"It's a long story," I said with another shrug.

"That is it," she said. "Enough with the kung fu wandering the earth thing. I'm gonna buy you dinner and we're gonna talk."

"Lindsay," I said. "I can't."

"No," she said dismissively. "The only way to avoid bloodshed is to say yes."

Truth was, I kind of wanted someone to talk to, just to forget about the last few weeks.

* * *

 _ **Brothel  
Maine**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth was downing her fourth shot and looking a lot more casual as I took a sip of my own drink, and watched Cas, who looked terrified - if I had to put it any other way.

"Hey. Relax," I said, slipping my arm around Beth who leaned willingly into me and kissed my neck.

"This is a den of iniquity. I should not be here," Cas replied, frowning at me.

"Dude, you full on rebelled against Heaven," I pointed out. "Iniquity is one of the perks." This got a laugh out of Beth, who shook her head and waved another drink over.

A pretty looking blonde, with long flowing hair and a pure white babydoll nightie spotted us and walked over, a smile plastered to her face.

"Showtime," I said to Cas, taking another drink as Beth snorted and accepted her new shotglass from the bartender.

"Hi," the girl said, looking at Cas who was looking at the floor, walls, ceiling, anywhere to avoid looking at the swell of bosom threatening to burst forth from the few ribbons holding her outfit together . "What's your name?"

"Cas," I said, startling the angel next to me. "His name is Cas. What's your name?" I asked.

"Chastity," she replied with a smile, her eyes roaming the length of me.

Beth spluttered over her drink and I turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Chastity," I repeated, the amusement in my eyes clear for the brunette to see. "Wow. Is that kismet or what, buddy?" I asked, looking at Cas who was drinking from his beer. "Well, he likes you, you like him…so dayenu." I waved the girl at Cas, and she tugged on his hand with a smile, pulling him to his feet.

"Come on, baby," she invited, smiling again and leading him past me and down the hallway to the rooms.

I grabbed Cas on his way past, thrusting a fistful of money into his hand. "If she asks for credit card, no. Now, just stick to basics, okay? Don't order off the menu. Go get her, tiger." I gestured eagerly for him to follow the girl who was waiting a few feet away. Cas didn't move.

"Don't make me push you," I threatened. Cas took the money and then started to follow Chastity.

I turned and smiled at Beth who was shaking her head at me, still perched on her seat at the bar. She held out a shotglass for me and I accepted it with a grin that I knew drove her a little crazy, holding it up and chinking it against her own. "Well, cheers to you," I said downing the whiskey in one gulp.

"You know, you sure know a lot about these places," Beth said with a raised eyebrow, reaching out to grab my belt and pull me closer to her.

"Do I?" I asked innocently, grinning back at her.

"Uh huh," she nodded.

She had me there. It's not like I'd spent _a lot_ of time in brothels, but hey, there'd been a few years there where … I needed to get her out of my system … was the best explanation I could come up with. Was I proud of myself? Not especially. Did it happen once we got together? Hell no.

"You know how it is," I said, kissing her softly, and then whispering. "Had to bail Sam out a few times and all."

That made her laugh, and it was music to my ears. I chuckled and kissed her again, this time a little more forcefully, my tongue pushing between her lips to thoroughly explore her taste. I groaned, feeling myself instantly react, sliding my hands up and into her thick, wavy locks, grabbing fistfuls and holding her head back slightly as I deepened the kiss.

I was rewarded with her little whimper and the feeling of hands sliding around my waist, grasping my buttocks and pulling me into her a little firmer. Moments like this, we were the only people in the world. Lights dimmed, people froze, sounds faded…. All except the scream.

It echoed down the hallway from the bedrooms, and broke the spell.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, and Beth nodded, sliding off her chair.

"Come on," she said.

As we wove our way through a few random bystanders, I saw Chastity storm out of the bedroom. "Get out of my face! Leave me alone!" She yelled. "Bastard! Screw you, jerk!" I looked from the blonde to a disheveled looking Castiel.

"I'll kill you!" She yelled finally, turning and pushing down the hallway toward us. "Screw you too!" She exclaimed when she saw me. "God! Oh! Jerk!" Then she was moving again, leaving a very confused looking Beth, as well as myself.

I turned and walked up to Cas, lowering my voice. "The hell did you do?" I asked urgently.

"I don't know," Cas replied. "I just looked her in the eyes and told her it wasn't her fault that her father Gene ran off. It was because he hated his job at the post office."

"Oh, no, man," I said, shaking my head.

"What?"

"This whole industry runs on absent fathers," I said, turning and pulling him with us, Beth skipping ahead. It's, it's the natural order."

Beth came to a halt in front of us and we bumped into her. Chastity had returned, and brought friends in the form of two very well-built bouncers.

"Time to go," Beth said, backing up. I nodded, taking her hand and shoving Cas back down the hallway toward the emergency exit.

I was laughing by the time we hit the alleyway. I closed the door behind us and couldn't help myself, the absurdity of what had just happened finally hitting me.

"What's so funny?" Cas asked, as I chortled on the brink of hysteria.

"Oh, nothing," I said with another laugh, trying to catch my breath. I wrapped my arm around Beth and shook my head. "Whooo. It's been a long time since I've laughed that hard." I said, thinking it over. We'd been through alot in the last couple of years. Losing the baby, me going to Hell…. We laughed, this was true, but hysterically funny laughter where I felt like my sides were going to split? "It's been more than a long time," I added more solemnly, looking at Beth who was smiling.

"Years," she said. I nodded, feeling the smile drop from my face.

* * *

 _ **Oklahoma**_

 **Sam's POV**

Lindsay was really pretty, I had to give her that. I found myself more and more attracted to her with every passing moment. It was a recipe for disaster, I kept telling myself, especially since I was still dreaming about Jess every night. I smiled at something Lindsay said, and chuckled in response, pushing Jess out of my mind. Let the dead stay dead, at least for tonight.

"So… you gonna tell me who those guys back there really were?" She asked pointedly, looking at me. "And don't say hunting buddies."

"Okay," I said, raising my eyebrow. "We used to be in the same business together."

"What business?" She wasn't going to give up, and I struggled with the thought of telling her everything, though I knew deep inside that to keep her safe, I couldn't reveal my past.

"How's your salad?" I asked.

"Witness protection? Right? You're Mafia?" She asked in response, completely ignoring my attempt to change the subject.

"I'm not Mafia," I said with a smile.

She let out a hot, frustrated breath and leaned back in her chair, sizing me up. "Okay, I get it," she said. "Don't mean to pry, my bad."

I sighed, looking into her curious eyes, and then I started to talk. "I used to be in business with my siblings. Truth is I was pretty good at the job. But...I made some mistakes, I did some stuff I'm not so proud of, and people got hurt. A lot of people."

"What was your poison?" She asked, leaning forward on the table, resting on her forearms.

"Sorry?" I queried, thrown by the question.

"Come on," she said. "You were hooked on something, I know the look." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sobriety medallion, dangling it in front of her. "Three years sober."

"You work in a bar," I pointed out.

"So do you," she replied with a smile. I chuckled, she had no idea.

"Look, Keith. I don't know you and I'm the last person to be giving advice, but I do know that no one has ever done anything so bad that they can't be forgiven. That they can't change."

I wasn't so sure about that.

* * *

 _ **Next Day  
St. Peter's Hospital, Maine**_

 **Beth's POV**

The more we talked about the plan, the bigger my nerves got. But there was no time for that now. It was go time. I helped Cas pour the holy oil in a circle around Donnie - Raphael's vessel - watching his face carefully for any change in his catatonic state.

"It will work, Beth," Cas reassured me. "Soon, Raphael will be with us."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I muttered under my breath, finishing up the oil as the door opened and Dean slipped inside, moving to close the shades to the corridor.

"When the oil burns, no angel can touch or pass through the flames, or he dies," Cas said.

"Okay," Dean said with a nod. "So we trap him in a steel cage of holy fire, but one question. How the hell do we get him here?"

That wasn't half as complicated with the question I had about how we were going to burn holy oil inside a hospital without drawing a lot of attention.

"Very simple," Cas answered. "We'll use the … angel radio… as you call it. There's almost an open line between a vessel and his angel. One just has to know how to dial."

"Tune," Dean said. "Tune in, the station."

Cas looked at him with a confused expression and Dean threw his hands in the air. "Nevermind," he muttered, shaking his head at me. I smiled back and winked, I was starting to wonder if Cas would ever get the subtle intricacies of our language - it really was nothing like Enochian.

Cas turned his attention back to Donnie, still sitting in his chair, immobile. He leaned down and chanted in Enochian into the vessel's ear. I was close enough to hear Cas's veiled threat when he finished, translated into English.

"I'm here, Raphael. Come and get me, you little bastard," he said, before stepping back outside the oil circle.

"Just out of curiosity," I asked. "What is the average wait time to speak to an Archangel?"

Cas looked sternly at me, his eyes dark and determined. "Be ready." Then he fired a match, dropping it down on to the oil which burst into a ring of iridescent orange flames.

* * *

 _ **12 hours later...**_

 _ **Abandoned House**_

It had been a long, and uneventful day. I groaned at the knots in my neck, and climbed out of the Impala once we stopped moving.

"Well, that's one day I'll never get back," Dean commented, joining me with a sigh. He slipped his arm around my waist and inclined his head toward the house, the weariness in his eyes plain as day.

We trudged up the stairs and inside, Cas following us.

"Guys, wait," Cas said, as a flash of bright light flared through the room. I gasped, holding out a hand to protect from the brightness, while Dean pushed me behind him. Donnie was no longer in St Peters, he was now in the room, and the shadow of angel wings silhouetted against the wall - indicating what was already clear as day. Donnie was no more. Lightbulbs shattered in their sockets as the light faded, returning the house back to the din of twilight.

"Castiel," Raphael said, turning his face to look at us.

"Raphael," Cas replied, taking a step forward with Dean.

"And I thought you were supposed to be impressive. All you do is black out a room," Dean jibed, and Raphael smirked at him.

"And the Eastern Seaboard," he said. I looked up to see lightning flash outside in the growing darkness. "It is a testament to my unending mercy that I do not smite you here and now."

"Or maybe you're full of crap," Dean countered. "Maybe you're afraid God will bring Cas back to life again and smite you and your candy-ass skirt. By the way, hi, I'm Dean."

"I know who you are," Raphael said, barely even looking at Dean as he stared off with Cas. "And now, thanks to him, I know _where_ you are."

"You won't kill him. You wouldn't dare," Cas said.

"But I will take him to Michael," Raphael replied.

"Well then. Sounds terrifying. It does. But, uh, hate to tell you, I'm not going anywhere with you," Dean said, playing it cool and grabbing a beer from the cooler by the cold fireplace.

"Surely you remember Zachariah giving you stomach cancer?" Raphael asked. Dean's shoulders tensed, and I could tell he was replaying that incident through his mind as he stood up and turned around.

Dean sipped from the bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, chuckling. "Yeah, that was, that was hilarious."

"Well, he doesn't have anything close to my imagination," he threatened, and I felt my heart skip a beat, waiting… just waiting for the moment, watching as he took a few more steps toward us. Finally it was here.

"Yeah? I bet you didn't imagine one thing," Dean said with a grin.

"What?" Raphael asked.

"We knew you were coming," I said, flipping the zippo I was holding and dropping it on the holy oil that was now circled on the floor around Raphael.

"You stupid son of a bitch," Dean added.

Raphael glared at us, and Dean took a step back toward Cas. "Don't look at me, it was his idea."

"Where is He?" Cas asked, stepping past Dean and looking through the flames at his brother.

"God?" Raphael asked incredulously. "Didn't you hear? He's dead, Castiel. Dead. There's no other explanation. He's gone for good."

"You're lying," Cas countered.

"Am I? Do you remember the twentieth century? Think the twenty-first is going any better? Do you think God would have let any of that happen if He were alive?" He asked, and I had to admit, he had a point.

"Oh yeah? Well then who invented the Chinese basket trick?" Dean asked, in fine sarcastic form.

"Careful. That's my Father you're talking about, boy," Raphael said, glaring at my smart mouthed husband.

"Yeah, who would be so proud to know His sons started the frigging apocalypse," I said, throwing my hand in the air, waving it around in general. In my mind, the apocalypse was just sort of - out there - like a there but not.

"Who ran off and disappeared," Raphael said. "Who left no instructions and a world to run."

Dean snorted. "Daddy ran away and disappeared. He didn't happen to work for the post office, did He?"

"This is funny to you? You're living in a godless universe," Raphael said. There was something there, underneath his condescending attitude. He was scared. He was how I felt - worn out. Over it.

"And?" Dean asked in just as condescending a tone. "What, you and the other kids just decided to throw an apocalypse while He was gone?"

"We're tired," Raphael said, confirming my thoughts. "We just want it to be over. We just want...paradise."

"So, what, God dies and makes you the boss and you think you can do whatever you want?" I asked, stepping up beside Dean.

"Yes," Raphael replied, looking at me. "And whatever we want, we get." There was a splintering sound and then a tinkle as the glass in all the windows shattered, bursting inwards.

For a moment I wondered if we had company, but it was soon apparent that it was just a show of Raphael's immense power. I was thankful for the holy oil containing him, especially if that was an indication of his power.

"If God is dead, why have I returned? Who brought me back?" Cas asked.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Lucifer raised you?" Raphael asked.

"No," Cas replied, shaking his head.

"Think about it. He needs all the rebellious angels he can find - you've been hanging with some of the most rebellious in Heaven… Ezekiel… Sariel. You know it adds up." The wind picked up, rain streaming into the house from the broken windows. We were dripping with wet, but it was the least of our concerns.

Cas shook his head. "You have no idea," he said. "Let's go."

"Castiel, I'm warning you. Do not leave me here. I will find you," Raphael threatened, standing powerless in the circle of fire, its flames still burning brightly despite the water.

Cas paused, looking back at him. "Maybe one day," he said. "But today, you're my little bitch." He turned and walked out and Dean grabbed my hand, pausing to look at the dark-skinned angel who was simmering with rage.

"What he said," he said finally, before pulling me out the door with him.

* * *

 _ **Bar, Oklahoma  
**_ **Sam's POV**

The sound of the bell on the door reminded me that I really needed to lock the door before starting clean up.

"Bar's closed," I said, finishing wiping down the table before turning around. Tim was standing in front of me, looking at me with a glare that would stop Satan himself.

"Hey," I said, trying to break the ice.

"Something you want to tell me, Sam?" He asked, ignoring the greeting. He was covered in dirt, and blood, and wringing his hands together.

"What?" No." I replied with a frown.

"You sure around that?" He asked. I was just starting to take in his appearance, it was bloody, and dirty, and I was pretty sure I hadn't seen him this pissed before.

"I—I don't know—jeez. Are you okay? Where are Reggie and Steve?" I asked.

"Oh, Steve's good, he's," Tim chuckled, wiping a hand across his face and shaking his head. "uh, his guts are lying roadside outside the Hawley Five and Dime."

I froze. Things had not gone well with the hunt. "I'm sorry," I said.

"Sorry don't cut it, Sam," Tim replied.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked, holding my hands out.

"The truth." He said. I kept quiet. I couldn't tell them what I knew. I didn't even know what he wanted to hear.

"Okay, fine," Tim said, nodding. "Let me give you some of my own, then. We go into town, we catch ourselves a demon, we get jumped by ten more. Steve bought it."

"I'm sorry," I repeated.

"Saying it twice don't make it so, Sam. You see, this demon, he, uh, he told us things. Crazy things, things about you, Sam."

"Demons lie," I said, feeling my blood run cold. This was not good. Tim was out for blood, and fair chance it was mine right now.

"Yeah," Tim said, shaking his head again. "I'm gonna ask you one last time. The truth. Now." The door chimed again and this time I saw Reggie come in, pulling Lindsay behind him.

"Lindsay!" I started to move toward her, while Reggie brought a knife up to her neck, holding her tight against him.

"What's going on?" She asked, the fear evident in her voice. I pulled back inside of myself, weighing up my options, just as Dad had taught us. Problem was, these guys were trained too, and there were two of them - and they were pissed. One thing I did know, rough as they were, these were good guys.

"Just take it easy, okay? Put the knife down," I said, holding my hands out in front of me in a peaceful gesture. Reggie complied, putting the knife on the bar, but his arm stayed at Lindsay's back, a grip on her so she couldn't run.

"It's true," I confessed. "What the demons said, it's all true."

Tim looked surprised to hear me say it, and then he crossed his arms. "Keep going."

"Why? You gonna hate me any less? Am I gonna hate myself any less? What do you want?" I asked in exasperation.

"I _want_ to hear you say it!" Tim said, anger dripping off his tongue.

I sighed, nodding at him. "I did it. I started the apocalypse."

Tim took a moment to process what I said, and I glanced over at Lindsay for a second. When I looked back he was holding a vial.

"What is that?" I stalled, trying to come up with a plan that wasn't going to see Lindsay or myself dead.

"What do you think it is?" Tim asked. "It's go juice, Sammy boy."

"Get that away from me," I said, stepping back.

"Away from you?" Tim said incredulously. "No. This is for you. Hell if that demon isn't right as rain. Down the hatch, son."

"You're insane," I said, shaking my head.

"Here's what's gonna happen," he said, as Reggie cuffed Lindsay to the bar. "You're gonna drink this, Hulk out, and you're gonna waste every one of the demon scum that killed my best friend."

He nodded over at Lindsay slowly. "Or she dies."

"You wouldn't do that," I said.

"It's funny how watching your best friend die changes that," Tim replied. Together Reggie and Tim advanced on me. I took a few steps back, biding my time, uncertain just how good their skills really were.

"Come on, you know you want it, Sam. Just reach out and take it," Tim said, holding the vial to me. Reggie charged at the same time and I blocked, using his momentum to toss him backwards and over my shoulder into the pool table, landing a punch to his face. Tim was soon upon me, and I realised that I'd locked myself into a difficult position as we exchanged a few punches before landing on the floor. Reggie recovered quickly, and together they pulled me to the ground, Reggie getting me in a head grip, forcing my jaw back. I was powerless to get free of them. For now. Forcing my mouth open, they poured the blood in, and then held my nose. I was forced to swallow it - the metallic zing from the blood sent an exhilaration through me like none other. Almost instantly I felt the power. They shoved me aside and moved away, all of us breathing hard, the sounds of our struggle echoing through the room as they watched to see what would happen.

"There, was that really so bad?" Tim asked as I climbed to my feet. I reacted instantly, spitting in his face, and then I punched him. Reggie was next, I found the pure rage rippling through me exhilarating as I landed a few punches and a kick. I grabbed Tim, slamming him into the bar, the silver glint of Reggie's knife discarded caught my eye. I seized it, pressing it up against Tim's throat. Every ounce of my body wanted to slice into that skin, to take from him for having destroyed the peace I'd created here.

But, Lindsay.

She was watching, I felt her eyes on me before I even looked up. When I did, the horror in her face, the fear, was enough to stay my hand. I sighed, pulling TIm to his feet and shoved him toward Reggie.

"Go," I said, disgusted.

"Don't think we won't be back," Tim threatened.

"Don't think I won't be here," I replied. If they wanted to come back so be it, but I was done running.

* * *

 _ **Impala**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd been driving a short while since seeing Raphael and Cas had been silent the entire time. He was riding shotgun, Beth in the back. I glanced in the rearview at her and she met my look with a smile. I shrugged and then turned to Cas.

"You okay?"

He didn't reply. Not surprising. He was not happy with the results we'd gotten and now we were just as in the dark as ever before - but now we had another archangel who was out to get us.

"Look, I'll be the first to tell you that this little crusade of yours is nuts, but I do know a little something about missing fathers," I said, and Beth leaned forward to rest her arms along the back of the seat, listening quietly.

"What do you mean?" Cas asked, glancing over at me.

"I mean there were times when I was looking for my dad when all logic said that he was dead, but I knew in my heart he was still alive. Who cares what some ninja turtle says, Cas, what do you believe?" I said.

"I believe he's out there," Cas replied.

"Good. Then go find him," I said with a nod.

"What about you?" Cas asked.

"What about me?" I queried, frowning at him.

"How are you both, really?" Cas said, looking at Beth this time. She shrugged and glanced at me.

"We're good, Cas. Honestly," she replied.

"Yeah, I can't believe I'm saying it, but we are, we're really good," I agreed.

"Even without your brother?"

"Especially without our brother," I replied instantly.

"Dean…" Beth's voice was more cautioning. She didn't agree with Sam running off on us.

"No, come on Beth.I spent so much time worrying about the son of a bitch. I mean, I've had more fun with you two in the past twenty-four hours than we've had with Sam in years, and well… Cas isn't that much fun." I said. She looked incredulously at me, glancing to see Cas's reaction, but in true angel fashion, he didn't seem to get the insult.

"Sam is still our family," she said.

"Yeah, and we've always been there for him, you know that. It's been our job - first me, then you, it's always been one of us having to look after Sammy. It's funny, you know, I've been so chained to my him, but now that we're alone, hell, I'm happy. I was happy in Minnesota, I'm happy now." I glanced over at them, and was surprised to see that Cas, in true angel form, had just taken off. Beth sighed, and climbed over the seat, sliding in beside me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead, wondering if she was going to press for that visit to Lisa's.

"We should take a couple of days, just the two of us," she said softly, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah, sure, that's a good idea. Pick up where we left off before Cas took us galavanting to Maine," I replied. She nodded and fell silent. I'd known her long enough to know that something wasn't sitting with her right, but I didn't want to get into it over Sam.

"Hey," I said, keeping my eyes on the road, but squeezing her a little tighter to me. "You know, everything is going to work out, right?" I said it as much for myself as I did her.

"Right?" I pressed, when she didn't respond.

"Yeah, of course," she replied, not exactly enthusiastically. "We'll find a way, we always do."

* * *

 _ **Beth's Journal  
Pennsylvania**_

 _Almost a week and nothing to show for it other than miles on the Impala. Cas is off on his search for God again, and we are in a B &B in a little backwater town, trying to convince ourselves that the world isn't coming to an end. I wish I could shake from my mind this heavy feeling, the fear that we're missing something, that we are about to cross into the Twilight Zone and nothing will ever be the same. Perhaps we're already there. I've never been one to have a crisis of faith, but I find myself questioning. Not about angels, not even about the Devil, but God? Maybe Raphael is right, maybe the world around us is evidence enough … maybe we've sent Cas off on a wild goose chase. _

* * *

_**Sam's Journal  
Oklahoma**_

 _Jess came back in my dreams again. But this time it was different. She was confrontational, pushing me about sticking my head in the sand, trying to live a normal life. It was so out of character for her, that I started to doubt. I argued with her, turned my back, and when I turned around it wasn't Jess talking to me - it was Lucifer. I knew right away. He looked so sincere, like he was genuinely concerned about me._

* * *

 _ **Motel  
**_ _ **Sam's POV**_

"You are a hard one to find, Sam. Harder than most humans. I don't suppose you'd tell me where you are?" He said to me, and I breathed a sigh of relief, it was a dream - we were in a dream and he hadn't found me yet.

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"Thanks to you, I walk the earth. I want to give you a gift. I want to give you everything," he replied.

"I don't want anything from you," I retorted.

"I'm so sorry, Sam, I, I really am, but Nick here is just an improvisation. Plan B. He can barely contain me without spontaneously combusting." I looked at him, a simple man, blonde hair, sad brown eyes. His skin was starting to discolour in places, veins of black running across his face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked hesitantly, although deep down I had a gut feeling this wasn't going to be good.

"Why do you think you were in that chapel? You're the one, Sam. You're my vessel. My true vessel," Lucifer said. And somehow it made sense. Dean was Michael's vessel, it would make sense…. Beth had been theorising that certain blood lines were stronger, more readily able to host archangels. And if Dean was from one of those lines…. Then so was I.

"No." I said, shaking my head.

"Yes."

"No. That'll never happen," I replied. I was certain. There was no question.

"I'm sorry, but it will. I will find you. And when I do, you will let me in. I'm sure of it," he replied.

I knew the rules, however. "You need my consent."

Lucifer crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me, huffing out a short breath. "Of course. I'm an angel."

"I will kill myself before letting you in."

"I'll just bring you back," he responded, and the prospect alone terrified me. No death, no respite, no control. Lucifer looked at me and sighed. "Sam. My heart breaks for you. The weight on your shoulders, what you've done, what you still have to do. It is more than anyone could bear. If there was some other way...but there isn't. I will never lie to you. I will never trick you. But you will say yes to me."

"You're wrong."

"I'm not. I think I know you better than you know yourself," he replied.

"Why me?" I asked, my heart starting to beat faster. I almost felt a panic coming on.

"Because it had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you," he replied. When I looked up, he was gone and I was alone. Gasping I moved for the phone, I needed to call Beth, and Dean, tell them what had just happened. Maybe she'd been right all along, maybe I shouldn't be venturing too far from the family right now.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for the chapter: Hold on to Me - Mayday Parade

* * *

Hopefully won't be as much of a break before the next one (it's already half-written). Just been hard juggling work, study and single parenthood. I'm going to try play for an update every 6 weeks when I'm on term breaks, but we'll see … there's always something that comes up to get in the way.

As always, hope you enjoyed this update - I thought it was a bit of a boring filler, but I didn't want to delay it out further to add stuff in before moving on. There were a few moments that made me chuckle - such as Cas :D


	4. The End

_I see where my decisions have brought me_  
 _What's done is done and it's time to start again_  
 _Can't let it tear me in two waste me away_  
 _I gotta believe_  
 _Cause this is now_

 _How can I change tomorrow if I can't change today._  
 _This is now_  
 _If I control myself I control my destiny._

 _What I've seen and what I've been through has made me who I am_  
 _There was a time in my life where I had no desire to carry on_  
 _I couldn't see a place for me or a will to survive_  
 _I never thought to rely on myself or the beliefs that I have denied_  
 _But this is now_

 _How can I can change tomorrow if I can't change today_  
 _This is now_  
 _If I control myself I control my destiny_  
 _If I control myself I control my tomorrow_

* * *

 **THE END**

* * *

 _ **Century Motel  
Kansas City, Missouri**_

 **Beth's POV**

We'd been driving all day. A couple of days in Cicero with Lisa and Ben had done very little to lift Dean's spirits. He pulled into the curb at the motel, and sighed, looking up at the flickering light and then squeezed my hand.

"Home sweet home," he said and I smiled, leaning over to kiss him.

"Come on," I said, inclining my head. "I have just the thing for relaxing after that long drive."

"Oh yeah?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sleep?"

"Nu uh," I replied with a grin, winking at him and climbing out of the car, giving a little shake of my ass as I did so. Dean sucked in a breath and quickly followed, slamming his door closed and popping the trunk to grab our bags.

While he did that I turned my attention to a man standing nearby handing out pamphlets. The majority of people were ignoring him, but he insistently went about his work just the same.

"Hi. Good evening, brother. Is your soul rapture-ready?" He asked a man walking past, receiving not so much as a glance from the stranger. I realised the he was preaching. "Thank you, sir," said the man, "God bless."

"Good evening, folks," he asked a couple approaching. "Is your soul rapture-ready? Because what I'd like to do is just show you exactly what God's love is for you." They ignored him. The man seemed a little let down, but nodded. "Okay, God bless."

Dean closed the trunk and hoisted his duffel over his shoulder, grabbing mine by its handles, and then locked up the car.

"You ready?" He asked, walking past me, and my eyes fell to the way his jeans were hugging his ass, and I smiled.

"Oh yeah," I said with an appreciative sigh.

"Excuse me, friends, but have you taken time out to think about God's plan for you?" The religious man asked us as we reached the motel. Dean stopped to look at him, but my mind was on what was waiting in the room now.

"Too friggin' much, pal," Dean replied, shaking his head, and then he followed.

* * *

 _ **Hotel Room  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

As soon as we'd checked in to our room my phone had started ringing. Cas. All the way up the elevator to our room, he'd talked about finding the latest thing he thought would help us win this war. I was tired, and frankly not in the mood for any more goose chases.

Beth seemed to be in a whole different space, and tired was not how I would describe it. I was loving it. I kissed her quietly as Cas prattled on the other end of the line.

"We're talking about the Colt, right? I mean, as in the Colt?" I asked, and Beth paused for a moment to raise her eyebrow. I shrugged and she grinned, running her hands around my side and down the back of my jeans to cup my buttocks and give them a cheeky squeeze.

" _We are,"_ Cas replied.

"Well, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would the demons keep a gun around that, uh, kills demons?" I asked.

" _What? What? Did—I didn't—I didn't get that."_

Beth's lips latched on to my neck and I groaned softly, both at her wandering hands, and Cas's lack of timing. I laughed suddenly at the whole absurdity of the situation, maybe I was more than a little tired.

"You know, it's kind of funny. Talking to a messenger of God on a cellphone. It's, you know, like watching a Hell's Angel ride a moped."

" _This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."_

I was hard as a rock. All I could think about was getting Cas off the phone and jumping the woman in front of me. Right now I didn't give a damn about the world, Cas, Lucifer or any gun that was going to be able to kill him and whether it still existed. Beth continued to suck on my neck, pressing me against a wall as her knee ground gently against me. I groaned, and was rewarded with the unzipping of my jeans, feeling them drop to the floor and her hand take their place, sliding into my shorts. I let out a hiss of pleasure, closing my eyes and dropping my head back against the wall.

"Jesus…" I muttered, trying to concentrate on Cas's voice. "Okay, all right. I'm…" Beth's thumb circled around my tip stopping my thought process short. "...Damn… babe…." I whispered, and she giggled, nipping at my earlobe. I focused on the call, intent on ending it. "I'm telling you, Cas, the mooks have melted down the gun by now."

" _Well, I hear differently. And if it's true and if you are still set on the insane task of killing the devil, this is how we do it."_

I sighed, he was determined, I had to give him that. "Okay. Where do we start?" I relented.

" _Where are you now?"_

Beth wasn't slowing down for anyone, it reminded me of old times when we didn't have the weight of the world on our shoulders. She let go of my cock, balling her hands into my t-shirt and pulling me away from the wall, turning me enough that she shoved me, I fell back on the bed. I almost dropped the phone, forgetting I was even on a call, grinning up at her.

"I like where you're going with this," I said to her as she stripped off her top, her long, wavy dark hair falling loose around her shoulders.

" _Dean?"_ Cas's voice echoed from the phone and I sighed. Right. I picked it up, watching Beth as she shimmied out of her jeans, and then started to inch her panties off slowly.

"Kansas City," I said, crawling back on the bed far enough to grab the room key where Beth had dropped it. I looked at the tag, putting the phone to my ear again. "Century Motel, Room 113."

" _I'll be there immediately."_ Cas replied.

"No!" I said in alarm, getting a hesitant look out of Beth, who stopped with her arms locked behind her back where she was undoing her bra. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…" I said, shaking my head at her and rising to my knees. I moved toward her, starting to knead a breast through the lacy fabric, winking at her. "No, no, come on, man," I said to Cas. "We just drove like sixteen hours straight, okay? We're human. And there's…" I slipped my hand down between Beth's legs, sliding a finger between her folders. "...there's stuff we got to do."

" _What stuff?"_

I brushed a finger across Beth's clit, this time getting a moan out of her, and grinned.

"Eat," I said into the phone. "For example. Just… stuff man! Then, sleep. I just need like four hours once in a while, okay?" My breathing was starting to speed up as I saw Beth's eyes flutter closed, and she reached out to hold my shoulders as I continued to tease her.

" _Yes."_

I reached up, tugging on her bra straps and Beth reached behind, releasing the clasp this time, letting the bra fall to the ground. I sighed, catching her left breast in my mouth, my free hand coming up to cup her other one, kneading it as I sucked a couple of times on the hardening nipple between my lips. "Okay," I said around a mouthful of flesh. "So...you can pop in tomorrow morning."

" _Yes. I'll just—"_

I didn't even wait for him to finish, hanging up mid-sentence and tossing my phone across the room at my duffel bag. I pulled Beth closer, my hand sliding around her waist as I sucked on her nipple.

"Oh my god I thought he'd never shut up," I muttered.

"Are you sure it's not urgent?" She asked, her breathing almost as excited as mine and her voice telling me she didn't want to stop.

"No! Hell no… I … we… need some time out. He can wait."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Motel Room**_

 **Dean's POV**

There was a phone vibrating on the bedside table. I groaned, opening one eye and glaring at it. I'd asked for four hours, _four freaking hours!_ Okay, so maybe it had been a bit longer than that, it had to be the middle of the night here, but still. I reached out, answering it without even looking at the screen.

"Damn it, Cas, I need to sleep!" I cursed, and then I realised, this wasn't even my phone. In my sleep haze, I'd grabbed Beth's phone.

" _Dean, it's me,"_ Sam's voice came over the line and I popped an eye open again, glancing at the alarm clock.

"Sam? It's quarter past four," I said.

" _This is important,"_ he said. That caught my attention. He'd been calling Beth at four in the morning, that wasn't usual, even with their renewed enthusiasm for each other.

I sighed, sitting up on the edge of the bed and rubbed my eyes. Sam started talking, regaling me with stories of Lucifer, and then he got to the punchline, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I stood up, moving to the fridge. Beth was still sleeping, though the movement seemed to stir her. I grabbed a cold beer and sat down on a chair at the table, instantly regretting it as the cold vinyl stuck to my bare ass.

"So, you're his vessel, huh? Lucifer's wearing you to the prom?" I asked.

" _That's what he said."_

"Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in, huh, Sammy?" I said, taking a long drink from the bottle in my hand.

" _So, that's it? That's your response?"_ He asked.

I sighed, leaning back in the chair. "What are you looking for?"

" _I don't know. A—a little panic? Maybe?"_

I shrugged, not that he could see it. Beth was starting to roll around on the bed, and I knew this conversation was about to get a lot more complicated.

"I guess I'm a little numb to the earth-shattering revelations at this point," I said.

" _What are we gonna do about it?"_ Sam asked.

"What do you want to do about it?" I questioned. Seemed to me things couldn't really get much worse than they already were.

" _I want back in, for starters,"_ he said, and this instantly had me on edge.

"Sam…"

" _I mean it. I am sick of being a puppet to these sons of bitches. I'm gonna hunt him down, Dean,"_ Sam said. I bit my lip, watching as Beth reached out for me, and then went still as she realised I wasn't in bed with her. She raised her head, looking over at me and I tried to toss her a reassuring smile, but I didn't know how convincing it was.

"Oh, so, we're back to revenge, then, are we? Yeah, 'cause that worked out so well last time," I pointed out to Sam.

" _Not revenge. Redemption."_

"So, what, you're just gonna walk back in and we're gonna be the dynamic duo again?" I asked. This got Beth's attention, she shifted, pulling the sheet around her in an impossibly cute gesture of modesty and then inchwormed her way to the end of the bed.

" _Look, Dean, I can do this. I can. I'm gonna prove it to you."_

I was so tired. Not just physically, but mentally. "Look, Sam—it doesn't matter—whatever we do. I mean, it turns out that you and me, we're the, uh, the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know, on that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other for good."

"Is that Sam?" Beth asked, and I nodded, seeing her frown.

" _Dean, it does not have to be like this. We can fight it."_

"Yeah, you're right. We can. But not together. We're not stronger when we're together, Sam. I think we're weaker. Because whatever we have between us—love, family, this promise Dad made Beth and I agree to, to keep you safe—they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways."

"Dean!" Beth gasped, moving closer as if she wanted to grab the phone from my hand.

" _Dean, don't do this."_ Sam said.

"Bye, Sam," I said, hanging up.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Beth asked, reaching for the phone. I shook my head, putting it on the table and slamming the beer down next to it.

"I can't, Beth. I can't," I said, standing up and grabbing a pair of boxers. Slipping them on I started to pace the room. "It's just too much. I need a break from worrying about him. I need time with you, I need … this," I said, waving my hands around the room where it was just a bed, her, me and nothing else. "I need… us… for a bit."

Beth stood up, coming to face me and stop my movement around the room. "You will always have us, Dean. Sam, he's got nobody."

"You think I don't know that?" I asked, hearing my voice pitch slightly. "I know, Beth. But I can't fix him, I can't make it okay. I really, really can't do that right now. We have the Apocalypse to deal with, babe."

Beth looked at me, the shock written across her face. I nodded, pausing for a moment and letting it sink in. I felt hollow, gutted by the one thing that had kept me going for so long.

"I know," she said softly.

" I don't know that putting us in the same room is such a good idea right now."

"Why?" She asked. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know!" I said, throwing my hands in the air. "But how can it be good? We need to keep Sam as far away from the dangerzone, ie. Michael and me, as we can."

Beth took my biceps in her hands, squeezing them softly. I sighed, wanting to punch something, I was full of tension and rage, mostly directed at Sam for putting us in this situation in the first place.

"Dean, I think you're over-reacting a little here," Beth said. "Sam is our brother. We promised to take care of him, and I'm worried."

I let out a hot breath, feeling that anger flow through me. I pulled away from her, swiping out with a hand and sending a fist into the wall. The plaster gave slightly, and I knew wrecking the place wouldn't do anything good, but somehow I felt a little better.

"I can't Beth. It's too much. I promised to take care of you, of Sam, of Cole and JJ and … everyone, Beth. I am responsible for everyone, and I just don't know how to save us all."

"You don't need to save everyone Dean," Beth replied, watching me carefully. She hadn't even flinched when I hit the wall, and all I felt from her was loving care. Something I didn't deserve.

"Don't I?" I asked, punching the wall again. "Because it sure feels like it. Like I have this weight on my shoulders." I pressed my palm to the wall, leaning against it, the coolness of the plaster soothing to my hot skin. Hands found my shoulders, kneading them, and I sighed as Beth started to caress my skin lovingly. Dammit how did she always manage to fix everything just with a single touch? I turned around, kissing her firmly, my hands tangling in her hair as I explored her mouth almost greedily, like a man who needed to lose himself in flesh and smell and touch.

"It's been there since Dad died," I mumbled into the kiss. "I know what I gotta do, and right now I think the safest place for Sammy is as far away from us as possible." I pulled the sheet down, letting it fall to the ground. "I need to stop feeling so… angry, and hopeless," I said, sliding my hands down her body.

"Dean, you're not hopeless, you…" I silenced her with another kiss, pushing her back toward the bed. I didn't want her reassurances right now. Not those kind.

"I just need you Beth," I whispered as I fumbled to get my shorts back off, and then lifted her, carrying her the rest of the way and laying her down beneath me. "I just need you."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Motel Room  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the uncomfortable springs of a bed sticking into me. I groaned, looking down and finding that the mattress we'd been sleeping on was gone. How much had I had to drink last night? I glanced up, not seeing Beth, and instantly was on my feet.

The room was trashed, like we weren't even in the same one. The alarm clock was broken, and somehow I was fully dressed. _What the?_

"Beth?" I called out, moving to the window and looking outside. The city looked as if it had been through a war, buildings crumbled around us, and smoke rose on the horizon as I looked down at the deserted streets, seeing nothing but abandoned vehicles and debris littering the road.

Someone came out of the bathroom, and I looked up to see Beth frowning at our surroundings. "What the hell is going on? Why are we dressed?"

"I don't know, but this aint good whatever it is," I muttered as she joined me by the window.

"Are we still in Kansas City?" She asked.

"If we are, someone has some serious explaining to do," I said. "Let's take a look around, see if we can't get some answers."

By the time we hit the streets I was starting to feel a heaviness in my chest, a despair eating away at me. This was it, this was what the end of the world looked like, and somehow we'd got a jump start on it. The buildings around us were graffitied, the entire area devastated by an unseen enemy.

As we stepped down in the road, which was littered with trash, and looked as if no one had driven on it in years, I heard glass splintering around the corner in a back alley. Exchanging glances with Beth, I led the way to investigate. As we rounded the corner I saw a little girl, no more than six or seven, crouching in the alley with a teddy bear.

"Little girl? Little girl?" I asked, extending a hand out to her. She barely moved, just rocked on her heels. She was a mess, dirt covering her long nightgown, and her long black hair was matted and sticking out in all directions. "Are you hurt?"

No reply. I shrugged at Beth who looked just as confused as I was.

"You know the not-talking thing is kind of creepy, right?" I asked. The girl looked up at me and I saw blood drip from her mouth.

"Dean, be careful," Beth said, her voice steady but concerned. Suddenly the girl shrieked, and attacked with a shard of glass. I moved to defend immediately, flattening her with an elbow.

"Jesus Christ!" Beth exclaimed, looking down at the unconscious girl on the ground.

I glanced around, wondering if we'd drawn attention to ourselves, finally seeing a large piece of graffiti on the wall at the end of the alley.

 **Croatoan.**

"Oh crap," I muttered, recognising the word immediately from the time we'd been caught up in a town, and people experimented on - the same time we'd found out Beth was pregnant. I heard Beth suck in a breath behind me.

"You're right, this really isn't good," she said. Just then, several messed up looking people came around the corner, blocking the view of the graffiti. They paused for a split second, and then a wildness entered their eyes and they started to run.

"Time to go," I said, pushing Beth back the way we'd come. We sprinted, my heart pounding out of my chest, running along the streets looking for anywhere we might be able to get ahead of them. A fire escape caught my attention down an alley and I grabbed Beth's arm, pulling her with me.

"Here, quick quick," I said, boosting her up. She grabbed the bottom rung easily and swung herself up to the landing, reaching back for me. The crowd was on us though. I glanced up at her, seeing the panic in her eyes.

"Dean, come on!"

"Get to Bobby's," I said, making my decision. "I'll find you."

I ran. They only saw me, and they gave chase. In the distance I heard Beth shout for me, but I had to keep her safe. It was my job. I could lead them away, and double back, or find another way. I'd find her later.

I sprinted down another couple of streets, and then I hit a chainlink fence. I grabbed it, shaking it to see if there was an easy entrance - there wasn't. They were on me, I had to get out. Just as I started to climb the fence, a couple of army tanks skidded around the corner. I had a split second to drop to the ground before they let loose with a barrage of bullets, shooting all the people who had been chasing me. I crawled to the side of the alley, finding an open door, and pulled myself inside out of danger.

 _ **Do you love me?!**_ The Contours started to blast over a PA system as more gunfire went off. I backed away from the entrance, intent on getting the hell out of here and doubling back for Beth. Suddenly I felt the cold press of a gun in my back.

"Well, hey bright spark," a familiar voice sounded. "Mind telling me what you're doing in the middle of the hot zone?"

* * *

 _ **On The Move  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

The gunfire had me moving. I didn't care who it was, but that didn't sound good, and it was from the direction that Dean had gone. I was unarmed, which had me feeling increasingly alarmed, and by the time I found the dead bodies littering the ground, the area was deserted.

"Dean?!" I called out, but there came no reply. He was gone. I looked at the dead, breathing a sigh of relief when I didn't find him grouped in with them. Wherever he was, he'd gotten away from this mess.

First things first, I had to regroup. I pulled deep inside myself, telling the rising panic in my chest to stop, and forcing it back down to my stomach where it belonged. I needed to be able to think, keep my head clear, move. I needed to do as Dean had told me: get to Bobby's.

If we were still in Kansas City, that was a fair drive North of here. Five hours at least. I set my focus on the task ahead. Get out of the city for a start, then see where I was. Hopefully I would find Dean in the process.

By the time I got to the outskirts of the city, I saw I fence surrounding it. That definitely hadn't been there yesterday. We were in a situation all right, and it felt strangely like when we'd been zapped to the past and met our parents. Only this didn't feel like the past.

I had found a crowbar on the ground as I'd worked my way out of town, I used it now to break open a hole in the fence, squeezing through. A sign hung on the other side, white with large black lettering.

 **CROATOAN VIRUS  
HOT ZONE  
NO ENTRY  
BY ORDER OF ACTING REGIONAL COMMAND**

 **AUGUST 1, 2014, KANSAS CITY.**

"2014…. Oh that's really not good," I muttered, looking back at the city. We were five years into the future, and the future didn't look good.

" _Get to Bobby's. I'll find you."_

I sucked in a deep breath, steadying my nerves. Dean would find me at Bobby's. He was probably on his way there right now. Nodding to myself, I turned my back on the smoking city, and started the hike North.

Half an hour later I came across an old Buick by the side of the road. I hurriedly jumped into the driver's seat, pulling at the wiring under it and twisting the leads together, breathing a sigh of relief as the engine roared to life. Three quarters of a tank of gas showed on the dash, and I closed the door, leaning my head against the steering wheel in relief. Finally. This was going to make the trip to Bobby's a lot easier.

As I started down the road, I searched the radio stations, finding only static. "Well, that's never a good sign," I muttered, hoping there would be better news when I finally made it to South Dakota.

* * *

 _ **5 hours later  
Bobby's House  
Sioux Falls, South Dakota**_

 **Beth's POV**

My heart had fallen during the drive. There were no signs of life anywhere along the interstate, and I stuck mostly to that to speed up the trip, and avoid detection that might occur in a town. The roads were mostly clear with the occasional abandoned vehicle when someone had broken down, or run out of gas. My own vehicle was getting low as the familiar sight of Bobby's car yard came into view.

I parked and rushed up the stairs to the main entrance, pounding on the door.

"Bobby? Bobby, I'm coming in!" I opened the door, sticking my head in a crack. "Cole? Sam? Dean?"

No response. I pushed open the door and stepped inside. The house was trashed. Upturned furniture, books scattered across the floor, and the amount of dust and spiderwebs told me that no one had been around in a while.

"Great…" I breathed, moving into the kitchen and stopping short. "Oh, no."

Bobby's wheelchair was on its side in the middle of the room. I picked it up, and felt my heart stop dead at the sight of dried blood and bullet holes. No. Shaking my head, I felt tears start to prick at my eyes. No, I wouldn't think about it, I couldn't. We would have come for him, we would have found him - and saved him. Somewhere, Bobby was fine.

"Dammit Dean…" I cursed, starting to feel despair that he'd separated from me. "Where is everybody, Bobby?"

Standing, I looked out the window in the kitchen, and was shocked at what I saw. I moved to the sink, staring through dirty old windows at the Impala, discarded, smashed up and rusted almost beyond recognition.

"Oh, Baby, no," I breathed, moving to the door and down the steps. "Dean is going to die when he sees you."

Something sounded in the car yard to the east of me and I ducked behind the car, looking through the smashed out windows. Several infected people walked past, and I felt a cold sliver of fear clutch at my heart. I needed a weapon. As soon as they were out of sight I hurried back inside, shutting the door and moving to the gun cabinet. I wondered how smart these infected were - would they open a door to come inside?

The cabinet was empty - no surprise. I let out a hot sigh, trying to think. The hidey hole. Maybe it hadn't been found. Creeping up the stairs, I hoped against hope that I wasn't going to find infected living in our old bedroom when I got there. I held my breath, pushing open the door. It gave way with an eerie, loud creak that I was sure would alert the whole world to the fact I was here. But nothing moved.

Hurrying inside, I looked inside the wardrobe, feeling around for the hollowed out compartment Dean, Sam and I had created years ago. It gave, and the false back popped out revealing a shotgun, a belt with ammo, extra shells… and John's journal. I grabbed a backpack from the wardrobe, shoving all the ammo and the journal inside, and then went back downstairs after loading the gun.

Stepping out on to the porch, my intentions hadn't been real clear. I just knew I was armed, and I needed to get these infected away. A screech came from my right and I turned in time to see a woman attack, shooting her at point blank range. The gunfire drew attention of two more infected nearby and as they advanced, I shot them dead too, retreating inside.

After a moment of listening, all went quiet. Maybe there hadn't been much around.

"Damn damn damn. Where is everyone?" I muttered to myself, finding my way to the library and pulling out John's journal. Maybe it had been left here for a reason. Inside, a photograph I'd never seen before fell out of the front. It was of Bobby, Cole, and Cas. There were three other men I didn't recognise there, and a sign.

"Camp Chitaqua," I murmured. So they'd gone there. Made sense, it would have plenty of cabins for people, a communal area, and they could fence it off and get supplies. I felt the urge to start for it right away, but I couldn't. I had to wait for Dean. Part of me wondered just how long I should wait. What if he'd never gotten out in the first place? What if I was stuck here, in the future?

I sighed, checking the gun again, just in case, and then settled on the couch, my back to the wall where I could see all entries to the room. I'd give it until morning, if Dean hadn't turned up by then, I'd go to the Camp, and wait for him to follow.

* * *

 ** _Military Base_  
** _ **Just Outside Kansas City**_

 **Dean's POV**

"Come on Cole," I said, pulling on the cuff holding me to a pipe. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yeah, it kind of is princess. You're not Dean," the petite blonde answered, crossing her arms and looking me over.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just not the Dean you'd know," I replied, leaning back against the wall and letting my arm slump as much as I could from the weird angle it was in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole asked, frowning at me.

"I'm from the tail end of 2009," I answered.

She snorted, her derision clear. "Yeah, right. And I'm Martha Stewart," she said.

"It's true, man. I'm not a demon, shapeshifter or anything like that, you already did the damn tests," I replied. Cole sighed, and nodded, thinking that over. For the last half hour she'd been working me over. The longer we sat here, the harder it was going to be to find Beth, and it was starting to eat at me.

"So you're from 2009?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, if you're really Dean, tell me something only you and I know," she said with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed, shaking my head, and then thought it over. Okay. Sure. I could do that. I grinned at her, recalling the perfect thing. I hadn't even told Beth this one.

"Yeah, okay. All right. Back just after Beth and I got together, we were all on that hunt in Delaware? Dad had taken Beth with him to the coroners, but I thought he'd taken you. I snuck into the bathroom where she was supposed to be showering and grabbed a good handful of …"

"Stop!" Cole said urgently, holding her hand out to me and closing her eyes. "Okay, yes. It's you. I have no need to recall that particular encounter!"

I sniggered at her, she was making this too easy. "Oh come on, you liked it."

"Puleeeease Dean, I was sleeping with your father, I had no interest in you whatsoever," Cole retorted. I felt the blood drain from my face at the thought. I mean, I'd known… they had a kid together for god's sake, but it wasn't really something Cole and I had outright talked about since I'd found out. It wasn't something I cared to discuss now, either.

"Ewww. Yeah, well, it's me. So how about you uncuff me? I gotta get back in there and find Beth."

Cole's head shot up from where she'd been looking at some paperwork on the table. "Beth is here? Now?"

"Yeah, and we left her back there with all those zombies!" I pointed out, pulling on the handcuff and looking at her expectantly.

"Relax, we killed them. I'm sure she's working her way out of the hot zone as we speak," Cole replied dismissively.

"How the hell do you know that?" I asked.

"'Cause it's what I would do Dean, you too. Use your brains you numbskull."

I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes. She was right. "Right. Right. I told her to go to Bobby's just before we got separated."

Cole frowned, looking over at me. "Okay, so that's where she'll head. A lot of ground to cover between here and home. And she's not going to find much when she gets there."

"Well, then lets get going!" I said, once again gesturing to the cuff. She sighed, picking up a key and coming over to unlock the bracelet.

"Hang on a minute, okay? Once she's on the road she'll be fine for a bit. She's a smart cookie. Once we're back at the camp, we'll send someone to get her, so just, take a breath. Right now we need to figure out why you're here, now."

"Maybe I can help with that," a tinny, familiar voice said. I looked up to see Zachariah standing on the other side of the room holding a newspaper.

"What the heck?!" Cole cursed, drawing her gun and pointing it at him.

The angel didn't even seem to notice she was there. "Croatoan pandemic reaches Australia," he read from the newspaper.

"Hold it Cole," I said, grabbing her arm. I glared at Zachariah, wishing the bullets would do some good. "I thought I smelled your stink on this Back to the Future crap."

" _President Palin defends bombing of Houston_." Zachariah continued to look at the paper. "Certainly a buyer's market in real estate. Let's see what's happening in sports. That's right—no more sports. Congress revoked the right to group assembly. What's left of Congress, that is. Hardly a quorum, if you ask me."

"How did you find me?" I asked, thinking to the last conversation I'd had with Cas.

"Afraid we had to tap some unorthodox resources of late—human informants. We've been making inspirational visits to the fringier Christian groups. They've been given your image, told to keep an eye out," Zachariah replied.

"The Bible freak outside the motel—he, what, dropped a dime on me?" I asked.

"Onward, Christian soldiers." Zachariah said with a smile.

"Okay, well, good, great," I said, tossing a hand in the air. "You have had your jollies. Now send us back, you son of a bitch."

"Oh, you'll get back—all in good time. We want you to marinate a bit."

"Marinate?" I asked.

"Three days, Dean. Three days to see where this course of action takes you," Zachariah replied cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole asked, still holding her gun in front of her.

"It means that your surrogate brother's choices have consequences," he replied, looking at me. "This is what happens to the world if you continue to say "no" to Michael. Have a little look-see." Then he was gone, leaving me alone with an angry blonde.

"What the hell does that mean?" She asked.

"You don't want to know," I sighed.

"Well I might not want to know, but I think it's time you get storytelling. I've organised a ride back to the complex - it's gonna be a few hours to get there. There's someone who's going to have to see you."

"Who?" I asked curiously.

Cole stopped to look me up and down, shaking her head. "My day just couldn't get stranger… you know that?"

* * *

 _ **4 Hours Later  
** **Camp Chitaqua - Cole's Cabin** _

**Dean's POV**

It had been a long four hours, the only consolation of which was that we were at least heading in the same direction Beth would be if she was going to Bobby's. I figured we were about an hour and half out from Sioux Falls. Cole confirmed this, telling me that as soon as we hit camp she'd arrange to have someone go to the house and wait for her. We could follow later. That only meant one thing: she still had questions, or worse, for me. I was stewing by the time we hit Camp. The last hour had been in silence, me mulling over my thoughts, and Zachariah's warning. Three days. I'd already seen enough to know that things were not good. I felt sick to my stomach with worry, and it was taking every ounce of discipline that I had not to knock Cole out and take the car straight to Bobby's. I knew better - I needed allies, and beating up family wasn't going to get me any.

The Camp certainly wasn't a summer camp like old days. Now it was surrounded by a huge chainlink fence, the top covered in barbed wire. Armed guards were parolling the perimeter when we arrived. It was dark, and no one seemed to give me a second look as Cole passed through the gate and drove through the compound to a cabin near the back. "Come on," she said, pulling the vehicle to a stop and climbing out. She grabbed a bag from behind her seat, and took the couple of steps up to the door with a leap, seemingly in a hurry. I sighed, debating once more about taking the car, and then deciding - against character - to follow.

I sauntered up the steps, taking a look at the buildings surrounding us, but there wasn't much to see given there was no power around. What light there was flickered inside the cabins, behind closed curtains.

Inside, I was not expecting to come face to face with myself, even though I should have known it would happen.

"What the Hell?" I asked, taking in a copy of myself, standing by a table with Cole and looking into the bag she'd carried in. He glanced up at my remark, and frowned.

"I should be asking that question, don't you think? In fact, why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't gank you right here and now?" He asked, picking up the gun that was on the table.

I raised an eyebrow, along with my hands, and grinned. "Because you'd only be hurting yourself."

"Very funny," he said, not looking in the slightest bit amused.

"Look, man…" I said, shrugging. "I'm no happier about this situation than you, believe me."

"Yeah, well, Cole reckons you're flying high from the past. Why don't you start by explaining how exactly that works?" He asked, leaning against the table, the gun resting comfortably in his hand like he was still deciding whether to listen or just shoot me.

"Zachariah," I said.

My twin stood up, taking a few steps toward me.

"Come again?" He asked.

"I'm you from the tail end of 2009. Zach plucked me from my bed and threw me five years into the future," I explained. I made the decision to start calling him Deano in my head, because frankly, this was going to get confusing if I had to talk about him to someone else.

"He's right. Some angel popped right in, minus the Delorean," Cole supplied, moving to the kitchenette and pouring herself a large bourbon from a bottle on the bench. She took a drink, watching us.

"Where is he? I want to talk to him," Deano asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh, you don't know," he replied sarcastically. Cole's drink was starting to look good.

"No, I don't know. Look, I just want to get back to my own friggin' year, okay?" I snapped, I wasn't keen on the freaking inquisition going on.

"Okay. Well… I'm not saying I buy any of this. But, if you're me, then tell me something only I would know," he said to me and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh for God's sake… we already…" I muttered, looking over at Cole who was smirking at me. Well, it had worked on her. "All right, fine," I sighed. I tried to think about something only we'd know. There was a lot of things we'd done with Beth, but who knows what she'd told Cole on one of their girl's drinking nights. I had to come up with something not even Beth would know. Then it hit me. I smirked, glancing at Cole, and then inclined my head at my counterpart who took a step closer.

"Rhonda Hurley," I started, noting that Cole's ears seemed to perk up. "We were, uh, nineteen. She made us try on her panties. They were pink. And satiny. And you know what? We kind of liked it."

Deano stopped and thought about it, a little smile - the first I'd seen - turning up at the side of his mouth.

"Touche…" he admitted, and I knew I had him. The relief of that was surprising.

"Oh man wait until she hears that…" Cole sniggered and I glared at the woman.

"Don't you dare!"

Deano's attention snapped to Cole. "Wait until who hears...wait…" The realisation dawned on him and he looked at me, a slight panic seeming to cross his face. "You're not here alone?"

"No," I replied.

"Of course he's not," Cole said, taking another slug of her bourbon.

"Well, where is she?" Dean asked, looking at me.

"Bobby's, most likely," I answered. There was no doubt in my mind that Beth wouldn't make it. I just hoped she'd managed to find a vehicle to get there. But she was strong and resourceful, she was there, I knew it. I refused to believe otherwise.

"Cole," Dean said, looking pointedly at our surrogate sister.

"Already on it. I sent Rocco to find Charlie, both with orders to find Beth, as I came through the gate. Why do I have to do everything around here?" She muttered under her breath.

"Who's Charlie?" I asked.

"A good friend," Deano replied.

"You trust him?"

"Her. Charlie is a her," Deano said. "And yes, with my life. Beth's too." Cole looked a little troubled at that statement and finished off her drink, moving back to the kitchen.

"Why aren't we going ourselves?" I asked, frowning at the idea of Beth's life in the hands of two complete strangers to me. Deano appeared to ignore me.

"So, what, Zach zapped you up here to see how bad it gets?" He said, I stared up at myself, his eyes looked so much more cynical than I felt even now. What on earth had happened in five years?

"I guess," I said with a shrug. "Croatoan virus, right? That's their endgame?"

Deano shrugged at me. "It's efficient, it's incurable, and it's scary as hell. Turns people into monsters. Started hitting the major cities about three years ago. World really went in the crapper after that."

"What about Sam?" I asked, he had been on my mind since the phone call.

Deano went really still, barely moving, hardly breathing. He looked at the gun he was messing with in his hands and spoke quietly.

"Heavyweight showdown in Detroit. From what I understand, Sam didn't make it." I stared at him in surprise and shock.

"You weren't with him?" I asked.

"No," came the reply. "No, me and Sam, we haven't talk in – hell, five years." The phone call played through my head, I found it hard to believe that Beth would have let me walk away from Sam like that.

"We never tried to find him?" I asked, confused.

"We had other people to worry about." Cole said, pouring herself another drink and taking a sip.

"What about Beth? Why didn't she make you..me.. us go after Sam?" I asked, frowning.

Deano and Cole both went still for the second time that night and I felt a chill run through my body.

He turned, his eyes conflicted, full of sadness and rage.

"She didn't make it," Cole said quietly.

"What?" I asked, barely getting the words out. "What do you mean she didn't make it?"

Deano stepped back, running a head across his face and looking grieved.

"She... she got infected, two years ago," he said, looking down at the wedding ring still on his finger. "I had to kill her myself."

"What?" I was shocked. "No... no, no, no. There had to be something you could've done, there had to be a way to .." I fell silent when Deano glared at me.

"You think I didn't look? You think I didn't try? I watched her! I watched her turn into a monster and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!" He stepped back, his face shutting down all emotion, locking it behind a wall.

Cole looked at him as he started to walk toward the door. "Dean…"

"Keep an eye on him," Deano ordered her, and she nodded.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"I need some air," he said, pausing in the doorway. "Get on the radio, call Rocco and Charlie back in. I'm going to get Beth myself. Just… keep him here."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Bobby's House**_

 **Beth's POV**

Night had fallen, and I was settled on the couch, gun in my lap trying to rest without falling asleep. I'd waited hours to see if there was any further movement in the area, and when there wasn't, taken the risk of lighting the fire. Currently it was the only source of light in the whole room. I'd started to convince myself that I could take a chance on getting some sleep when I heard the splintering sound of the kitchen door breaking open.

Jumping to my feet, I fired as soon as I saw a couple of infected people entering. I managed to get them both, reloading as the front door was kicked in. I spun, firing, and the gun jammed. I threw it at the shadow moving toward me and then took out the knife I'd found in the kitchen, launching myself at them. We hit the floor, rolling as I fought to get the upper hand. He was strong, grabbing my arms and rolling, twisting my wrist until, with a cry, I dropped the knife. He pressed an arm to my throat, and I froze, recognising those green eyes

"Hey!" I exclaimed, grasping at his arm - I was about to break the hold when he let me go with a shocked look.

"Beth?" He looked at me, eyes conflicted and hurting.

"Dean? Nice to see you too. What the Hell was that for?" I said, clutching at my throat and coughing a little. He stood up, helping me to my feet.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a frown, shifting around and looking for more infected. We really needed to secure the perimeter, in case there were more infected around.

Dean grabbed me suddenly and pulled me to him, his lips crushing mine in an urgent, heated kiss. It surprised me, but I instinctively returned it, my hands sliding up to hold his face. It took me a moment to realise the differences. The subtle change in his posture, the taste of his lips – like someone who had been surviving on military rations and whiskey, and the rough stubble covering his chin. I broke away a little, realising suddenly that this wasn't Dean... not the same Dean I had left earlier. He seemed to figure it out the same time I did because he pulled away.

He was looking at me, struggling with a whole range of emotion as it flicked across his eyes in the dim light of the fire.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly, and I shook my head.

"No need," I said, "You didn't know."

He frowned and said nothing, just looking at me. I stared at him, not knowing what to say. I mean, what do you say to the future version of your husband after he'd just mistaken you for the future version of yourself, and kissed you as if your very life depended on it?

"Listen, Dean, I'm not…"

"From here? Yeah, I know."

"Great, so that means you found Dean… where is he?" I asked, feeling relief wash over me.

Dean stared at me for a long time, so long that I started to feel a little uncomfortable. I reached out a hand to touch his cheek and he closed his eyes, sinking his face against my hand.

A dog started to bark, and I jumped at the sudden noise. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Come on," he said, taking my arm and leading me out the side door, along the dark porch to a vehicle where a dog was locked in the back. Dean had his gun out, and shot without hesitation, when a shadow rushed at us from the car yard. Two more shots and another infected person lay on the ground.

Dean shoved me to the passenger door and announced, "time to go."

* * *

 _ **Camp Chitaqua**_

 **Beth's POV**

The hour and a half ride back to the camp had been relatively silent. Dean was broody and refusing to answer me any questions other than telling me about how the Croatoan Virus had brought us to this, and it was spread from bites. As we got to the Camp, he was reprimanding me for throwing myself at him when he'd come into Bobby's.

"Do you know how stupid that was?" He asked, pulling the vehicle to a stop near the barred entrance where several guards were. When they saw him, they opened the gates, waving us through and barely giving any attention to me.

"Well excuse me Dean, what did you want me to do? Talk it to death?" I said sarcastically, feeling a little slighted from the criticism. This was not the same Dean I knew, he was talking to me like he was John.

"I'd expect you to stop being so damn reckless," Dean said, climbing out of the vehicle and coming around to open my door. "I'd expect you to run."

"Run? Since when have we run from anything?" I argued, sliding down to the ground and glaring at him.

"Since now," he said, his eyes frustrated as he looked at me. "A lot has changed," he said a little softer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, pausing to take in the slight change in his tone, and something else behind his eyes, a pain that I couldn't place.

"Nothing," he said. "Come on." He grabbed my arm, and practically dragged me to the cabin nearby. As Dean pushed me through the door, I took a moment to let my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting from a hurricane lamp. Immediately I saw Dean, my Dean, and Cole sitting at a table, having a few drinks.

"Beth!" He exclaimed as he saw me, then his eyes fell to the other Dean behind my back and he sighed.

"You don't split up," the Dean at my back said, and I could practically feel him looking over my shoulder at Dean. "Ever." He grabbed my wrist, clamping a cuff around it and snapping it closed. I looked up at him surprised.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"It's for your own protection," he said to me quietly, pulling me firmly over to a ladder leading up to a loft.

Dean jumped to his feet, reaching for his counterpart. "Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell man?"

His twin's answer was to clamp the other bracelet around one of the ladder rungs and I leaned against it, looking him over as he spun around, grabbing Dean by the arm, and simultaneously cuffing him to the same ladder.

He paused and then started to run his hands along the length of my body.

"Hey! Hey hey hey, what are you doing?" Dean asked quickly, and Future Dean looked at him with a grin. His hands slid down my thighs, over my knees to my boots. Finding the little silver knife I had tucked there, he pulled it out and stood up to plant a kiss at the back of my neck.

"Still haven't forgotten your tricks..." he whispered in my ear.

"Oh come on man, this isn't right!" Dean muttered, looking at us. Future Dean pulled away and frowned. He headed for the door again.

"Wait, you're just leaving us here?" I asked, watching him. Cole was staring at me as if she'd seen a ghost, and the future Dean seemed to want to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

He turned and sighed. "Yes,this is Cole's cabin. No one is going to come looking around here. And I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of _The Parent Trap,_ and my dead wife running around. So yeah, you two stay locked down for the day.

"Did he just say dead?" I asked, feeling my face pale.

"Yeah..." Dean said beside me, looking worried.

"Wait, when? How did I die?" I asked, looking up at the Future Dean. He shook his head and looked at me sadly.

"Tell you later," he said to me.

"Look, all right." My Dean was addressing his counterpart now. "Fine. But you don't have to cuff us, man." There was a raised eyebrow shot at him when he made that comment. "Oh, come on. You don't trust yourself?"

I smirked and shared an amused look with the Future Dean. "No," he said with a slight smile. "Absolutely not."

"Let's go," he said to Cole. "Did you find what I was looking for?" He turned, following her out of the cabin, shutting the door on any reply she had.

"Dick!" Dean muttered and slumped against the ladder.

"You okay?" He asked me after a heartbeat, looking me over.

"No Dean, I'm pissed!" I said, picking at a nail in the floorboards. "You left me behind back there."

"I didn't mean to, but I told you where to meet up..."

"That's not what I'm talking about," I cut him off, frowning at him. "You shoved me up a fire escape and didn't come with. Instead you ran off into unknown danger. I had no way of knowing if you were going to come out alive!"

Dean fell silent and slowly nodded his head.

"I know, I know it was stupid. But your safety is more important," he said.

"Don't say that," I replied, shaking my head. "Especially not now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean asked. I sighed, starting to pick at a nail in the floorboard near me. It was drilled in pretty hard, but some of the floorboard had started to rot. I picked and picked until some splinters gave, and I was able to get my nail under the head. With some kind of grip now, I worked at it until it started to slide out of the wood.

"I mean, I just found out that I'm dead inside of five years, and the Apocalypse didn't get stopped, and on top of that I can't even tell my own husband from... well … whatever – you two do look really alike you know," I muttered to Dean's confused look.

"What are you going on about?" He asked me, and I fought strange feelings of guilt, but then … what did I have to feel guilty about? It's not as if I was cheating, technically.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. I broke the nail free, and with a triumphant cry, started to pick at the lock on Dean's cuff. It only took a few seconds and we were both free.

"Come here." I pulled him to me and kissed along his lips, trailing my tongue over a cut that I found there, a sharp metallic taste danced across my tastebuds. Dean groaned and slid his arms around my waist, returning the kiss, lifting my jaw so he could deepen it. He glanced over at the single bed tucked away in a corner.

"Well, we could make use of this time..." he said suggestively and I grinned. "He did say not to leave the cabin."

I laughed, and nodded, kissing him back. "Didn't you get enough last night?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Never."

"What's going on here, Dean?" I asked.

Dean sighed, and leaned his forehead against mine. "Zach has decided to show us the consequences of my actions, should I continue to say no to Michael."

"God, is he mad?" I asked, shaking my head.

"No, he's desperate," Dean replied.

"We need to figure out how to get us back to our own time," I said, thinking about my impending death. I had to get free so that I could stop it from happening.

"And do what?"

"I don't know! Something! Dean I'm going to die!" I pulled my head back from his, searching his eyes urgently.

"No, you're not," he answered stubbornly. "We'll fix this. We can fix this."

"I don't know… I mean, you couldn't back then," I replied.

"And we'll find out what happened later, we'll make sure you're never even there. I'm not losing you Beth."

"And what about Sam? Where is he?" I asked, the absence of our brother not going unnoticed. Dean hesitated, looking at me.

"Dean?"

"He's dead. Me, and Cole… we're the only ones who made it," he answered.

"Bobby?" I asked, although the bloody wheelchair had answered a lot of my questions. "Jefferson?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I haven't seen them," he said.

"Bobby's wheelchair was at the house, it looked as if he'd been… mauled." I said, feeling my heart start to beat a little faster. This was bad.

"Jesus…"

"Dean I'm scared," I said, gripping his sides a little tighter.

"I know," he said, pulling me close and squeezing tight. "I know, but we'll get some answers. It'll be okay. Come on, let's just wait it out for a bit, at least until daylight, then we'll find Cole and figure out where to go from there."

* * *

 _ **Camp Chitaqua  
Morning - Several Hours Later**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd waited almost longer than I could bear. I had to get a look around, see if I could find Cole and get some answers. If Zachariah was insisting this as a kind of test, then surely I needed to see what was goingo n around here? Beth on the other hand, that was sending off warning bells in my head.

"Maybe, maybe you should stay here," I said, looking at her as she pulled her boots on.

"What? Why?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Because people think you're dead," I pointed out.

"And having two Deans running around isn't just as bad?" She questioned, standing up from the cot we'd slept in the last few hours.

"No. Yes. I don't know. But it's not as conspicuous as a dead person!" I said.

"Dammit Dean, I don't want to be cooped up in here," she said.

"I think it's for the best. I'll be back as soon as I can. I'm going to see whether Cas is around," I replied. She stopped and concentrated for a moment, like when she was trying to connect with an angel, and then shook her head.

"I can't hear him," she replied.

"Yeah, which is a bit concerning. What about the others?"

"No, it's … there's nothing. Like no one is there," she said, biting her lip. I sighed, nodding.

"Please wait here," I said, taking her by the shoulders and looking in her eyes. "Please? I'll be as quick as I can."

She sighed and nodded, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me tight. I held her close, noting the feel of her against my body, not wanting to think about how I'd be if she was suddenly taken from me. That alone almost caused me to change my mind, but my reasoning was sound - she could be recognised, and that'd cause problems.

Pulling away, I kissed Beth's forehead quickly and then exited the cabin, the brightness of the day causing me to squint for a moment. I took a few steps down from the porch and jumped when I heard my name.

"Hey, Dean. You got a second?"

I spun around. "No…" I replied instinctively, then I recognised the face to the voice. "Yes. Uh, I—I guess. Hi, Chuck."

"Hi," he said, then launched into his question. "So, uh, listen, we're pretty good on canned goods for now, but we're down to next to nothing on perishables and—and hygiene supplies. People are not gonna be happy about this. So, what do you think we should do?"

It was a good question. One that I didn't have an answer for. "I—I don't know. Maybe, uh, share? You know, like at a kibbutz."

"Wait a minute. aren't you supposed to be out on a mission with Cole right now?" He asked.

"Absolutely. And I will be," I said.

"Uh-oh," Chuck said, looking behind me. I turned, just in time to see a fist from an angry brunette coming at me. I ducked out of the way, holding my hands up.

"Whoa! Jeez! Easy, lady!" I said, jumping behind Chuck.

"Risa," Chuck supplied, and I looked her over. She was pretty, kind of my type, if you could say long-haired brunettes with chocolate brown eyes were my type.

"Risa?" I asked.

"You spent the night here, in Cole's cabin, didn't you?" She asked.

"Uh, what? I—I don't—did I?" I stuttered, and Chuck nodded - I had of course just been exiting it, so it looked suspicious enough.

"I knew something was going on between the two of you, sister my ass," she said. "I thought we had a connection."

"Well, I'm sure that we do," I said, trying to ease the conversation. Inside my stomach was churning. Me, and Cole? Surely not?! That was just sick, demented, wrong…

"Yeah?" Risa asked sarcastically, breaking my line of thought.

"Hi, Risa," Chuck said, chuckling awkwardly.

"Screw you," Risa spat out, turning on her heel and walking away.

"Oh, jeez. I'm getting busted for stuff I haven't even done yet," I muttered.

"What?" Chuck asked, turning around.

"Uh, never mind," I said, seeing the cabin door crack open and Beth peer out. I waved her inside, and looked at Chuck. "Hey, Chuck, is...Cas still here?"

Chuck laughed, looking amused. "Yeah. I don't think Cas is going anywhere."

* * *

 _ **Castiel's Cabin  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

I was not expecting the scene in front of me when I walked into the angel's cabin. He was seated, cross-legged, on the floor in front of a half dozen women who were all staring lovingly at him.

"So, in this way. We're each a fragment of total perception," he said in a slow, melodical voice. "Just, uh, one compartment in that dragonfly eye of group mind. Now, the key to this total, shared perception—it's, um, it's surprisingly physical."

He looked up, spotting me and then glanced back at the women. "Oh. Excuse me, ladies. I think I need to confer with our fearless leader for a minute. Why not go get washed up for the orgy?"

 _Orgy? What the hell was going on here?_ I wondered as the group of women stood up, smiling and laughing between themselves before leaving.

"You're all so beautiful," Cas said with a smile, watching them as they filed out of the cabin one by one. He stood up, stretching his back with a grunt.

"What are you, a hippie?" I asked.

"I thought you'd gotten over trying to label me," Cas replied.

"Cas, we got to talk," I said, and he looked at me, suddenly taking a quick step toward me.

"Whoa. Strange," he said, stepping right up to my face and looking into my eyes. Yep, same old Cas - right in my personal space.

"What?" I asked.

"You...are not you. Not now you, anyway," he said.

"No! Yeah. Yes, exactly," I said, kind of relieved that I didn't have to explain it to him.

"What year are you from?"

"2009," I replied.

"Who did this to you? Is it Zachariah?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Interesting," he said, still staring at me, and the air around me as if he was getting information from it.

"Oh, yeah, it's friggin' fascinating," I snapped. "Now. Why don't you strap on your angel wings and fly me and Beth back to our page on the calendar?"

"I wish I could just, uh, strap on my wings, but I'm sorry, no dice," he replied. I could smell weed on him and his eyes were looking at me with a glazed over lack of concern for anything.

"What, are you stoned?" I asked.

Cas took a step back, nodding. "Uh, generally, yeah."

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Life," was the reply.

* * *

 _ **Cole's Cabin  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

Dean had been gone an hour at least, I was getting restless and frustrated. I didn't like being stuck in here. I decided to go find him, and have a look around in the process. Rummaging through Cole's wardrobe, I found a ballcap and put it on, pulling my hair through the loop at the back so it was in a ponytail of sorts. Maybe it would be enough to confuse people from a distance, if I was spotted.

My silver knife was still with Dean, but there was a sharp filet knife in the draw of the kitchen and I took it, tucking it into my belt.

Exiting the cabin, I skirted around the fence near the camp, coming upon a section of the fence a short three hundred metres away which had a thick woolen blanket tossed over the barb wire. I frowned, not liking what that could mean, and wondered if the infected were smart enough to come up with such a bold plan to get over the fence.

Movement caught my attention on the other side of the fence, and I looked up to see a young boy, no older than six or seven, stalking through the undergrowth of the woods beyond. His curly blonde hair was a bit unruly, and he was handling a sawn off shotgun like a pro. I watched with mild curiosity as he tracked his prey, reminded of all the times John had taken us as teens into the woods. The hunts for the chupacabras specifically came to mind, and we'd been a lot older than this kid.

Suddenly the boy stood, revealing his position and shot into a copse of trees. A growl sounded and I was instantly moving, pulling myself up the chainlink fence and over to the other side, landing in time to see the body of what I assumed was an infected person fell from beside a tree, hitting the ground. The boy spun, pointing his gun at me, and I froze, hands in the air.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"Who am I? Who are you?" I asked.

"Answer me!" He demanded, his nerves beginning to show, his finger trembled probably itching to rest on the trigger. I sent up a silent prayer to whomever was listening that this kid wouldn't be the one to do me in.

"Easy, just take it easy. How about we lower the gun, kiddo, okay?" I said, keeping my voice soft.

"Sorry lady, can't do that." He said.

I swallowed, reaching my hand out towards the kid. "What's your name?" I asked.

The kid's brow furrowed, and he bit his lip nervously. I cocked my head, eerily familiar with the nervous gesture. Cole did that all the time and it definitely betrayed her nerves.

"John." He said.

"Alright John." I said. "There's plenty of infected out there, and I'm unarmed."

"Don't believe you." God what was this kid's deal?

"Well I'm clearly not infected, and I came from _inside the compound._ How about we get you back there?" I asked, gesturing back toward the fence.

A weird shuffling sound came from the left of us. John's eyes widened as an infected man rushed us, and he lifted his gun. I turned, launching myself at the infected. We both met the ground, and I jerked the knife from my belt, the only real weapon I had - Dean's admonishing from the night before ringing through my head. I had to concede it would have been more helpful if I had my gun, or the kid's gun, even.

I stabbed the infected man in the eye, my blade sinking low enough it pierced the brain, flinching back as the blood sprayed across my chest. The body stopped twitching under me, and I looked up at John, picking myself up off the ground.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're not armed with a gun? Are you insane?" He asked, his voice tight. I caught the underlying current of fear though.

"Long story," I muttered, ushering him toward the fence. "Let's get back inside, it's not safe here."

"Who the hell doesn't have a gun? Who are you lady?" John asked.

"I'm a friend of Dean and Cole's. I'm new, my name is... Elizabeth," I replied.

"Elizabeth, huh…" he said, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "You know you do kind of look familiar… a bit like my mom's friend."

"Wait, Mom?" I asked, then it dawned on me... _John_ …. "JJ?" I asked.

"You know me?" He asked, looking surprised.

"I haven't… I haven't seen you since you were a baby," I said.

"Well that was a while ago," he said.

"Look at you all grown up," I said.

"I'm seven now!" He said proudly. I realised that he would still have memories of the me he did know…

"Yeah? Well how about that, time really does fly." _Too fast,_ I thought. "Hey, I'm actually looking for Dean's cabin, can you point me in the right direction?"

"Sure," he said. "I was headed there myself. Though, you might want to change your top first," he said, waving a hand at the blood stain that was splattered across. "You're really crazy you know? That thing coulda infected you, you didn't get any in your mouth did you?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. I felt my cheeks burn slightly at the admonishment from the child. Dean had lectured me not twelve hours earlier about my recklessness, and I'd just gone and done it again. I pushed it out of my mind, resolving to get a gun - clearly I was going to need it if I was hanging around here.

* * *

 _ **A Short While Later  
Dean's Cabin**_

 **Beth's POV**

I'd found a new shirt in Cole's wardrobe, and ditched the hat, choosing to tie my hair back instead and hope for the best. At least with JJ by my side, people were less inclined to ask questions - or so I reasoned.

"Hey Charlie!" JJ called out as he pushed open the door to the cabin without knocking. "I got a friend of Mom's here!"

A slightly built red haired woman looked up from where she was reading a book on the couch. "Oh yeah? Who?" She asked, spotting me and dropping the book as she sprung to her feet. "Whoa! Beth?"

"Uh, yeah. Have we met?" I asked, looking at her. She didn't seem familiar.

"Yes, but not yet," she replied, staring at me as if I was a ghost. "I mean, not for you. Wow, you look just like her."

"Huh?" JJ asked, frowning at us both.

Charlie's head jerked toward the boy and she smiled. "It's just been a long time since I've seen Beth."

"Uh, her name is Elizabeth," JJ said, shaking his head.

"Right. Of course, my mistake. Why don't you go check on Sophia?" Charlie said.

"Sophia?" I asked, looking around. JJ nodded and started toward the bedroom at the back of the cabin.

"Wow," Charlie said, walking up to me with a huge grin. "I can't believe it. I mean, he told me, but… to see you… alive."

"Yeah, it's doing my head in too," I murmured, rubbing my fingers at my temples.

The door to the other room swung open and a little girl ran out in a woolen green sweater and brown sweatpants, her bare feet padding softly on the wooden floorboards as she squealed while JJ chased her. I was captivated by her giggle, and the way her curly brown hair cascaded around her face. She was almost identical to me at that age. My heart almost stopped beating at the thought.

"You know, my grandmother's name was Sophia," I said, drawing the girl's attention to me at the sound of her name.

"Yeah, about that…" Charlie said.

"Mom! Mom!" Sophia called out as soon as she spotted me. I felt the blood drain from my face, looking at Charlie.

"Really?" I asked, staring back at the girl now hurtling herself toward me.

"Mom?" JJ asked, looking a little closer at me. "Isn't Soph's mom…."

"Yes!" Charlie said quickly, cutting him off. "She is… gone. Sophia is just confused. Elizabeth looks a lot like her mom." JJ watched as the girl threw herself into my arms. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, squeezing tight.

"See?" JJ said, turning to me. "Told you you looked familiar."

"JJ, can you go to the mess and get us some food please? I forgot to get Sophia some lunch," Charlie said, and the boy was quick to comply.

"Yeah, okay Charlie," He ran out the door and suddenly things started to hit home.

"Listen, Beth…" Charlie was looking a little anxious.

"This is my… this is our daughter?" I asked, my voice catching with emotion.

"Yeah. She is, Beth."

Sophia was nuzzling into me, her face pressed into my neck and I took a deep breath, feeling the heaviness of her in my arms, the reality of her.

"But, how? When… how… how old is she?"

"She's four," Charlie replied.

"She hasn't been born yet," I realised.

"Not in your timeline, no."

"Oh my God…" I gasped, looking at her again. I took in her bright hazel eyes, the dark chocolate hair, she was … us. And I was gone from her life. I felt my legs start to give, my breath catching in a panic as the reality of what I'd just learned hit home. _I had a daughter._

* * *

 _ **Camp Chitaqua  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

I was working my way back to Cole's cabin when I spotted a car and jeep pull up nearby. I recognised my own profile almost immediately. Deano jumped out of the jeep along with a group of soldiers, followed by Cole. He grabbed a couple of beers and tossed one to a guy with him. They both opened the beers and took a drink. I watched as the soldier started to walk toward the main building, and Deano drew his gun, pointing it at the soldier.

"Hey. Hey! Watch out!" I called out, drawing everyone's attention to me. Deano shot the soldier in the back of the head and he fell to the ground. Suddenly all eyes were on me and Deano.

"Damn it," Deano muttered, looking at the ground and shaking his head.

"We're not gonna lie to you," Cole announced quickly, stepping up between us. "Him and him… It's a pretty messed-up situation we got going. But believe me, when you need to know something, you will know it. Until then, we all have work to do," she said pointedly. Deano was fuming, and I suddenly wished I'd kept my mouth shut as the soldiers took all this in, along with the defiant stares from Cole before turning and heading toward the main hall.

I quickly found myself shoved back into Cole's cabin, in the middle of a lecture.

"What the hell was that?" Deano asked, pointing out toward where we'd just come from.

"What the hell was that?" I asked incredulously. "You just shot a guy in cold blood."

"We were in an open quarantine zone," Cole said, dumping her things on the couch nearby. "Got ambushed by some Croats on the way out."

I shrugged and looked at her. _What the hell were Croats?_

"Croats. Croatoans," Deano supplied, opening a bottle of liquor on the table and pouring himself a drink. "One of them infected Yeager."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"'Cause after a few years of this, I know. I started seeing symptoms about a half an hour ago. Wasn't gonna be long before he flipped. I didn't see the point in troubling a good man with bad news." He lifted the glass to his lips and took a drink, simultaneously pouring another glass and handing it silently to Cole who joined him with a grateful smile.

"'Troubling a good man'?" I asked. "You just blew him away in front of your own people. Don't you think that freaked them out a little bit?"

"It's 2014, Dean. Plugging some Croat, it's called commonplace," Cole said with a shrug. I was staring at the pair of them, I didn't recognise either one of them. Cole had always been reckless, sure, but killing an innocent man while barely batting an eye?

"Trading words with my friggin' clone…" Deano continued. "That might have freaked them out a little." Cole sniggered and nodded, taking another sip. I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with how close these two were.

"All right, look…" I started, intending to ask about those rumours.

"No, you look," Deano interrupted. "This isn't your time. It's mine. You don't make the decisions. I do. So, when I say stay in, you stay in."

I stopped short at his look, realising he was right. "All right, man. I'm sorry. Look, I—I'm not trying to mess you—me—us up here."

"I know," he said, taking another sip of his drink as Cole looked around the room.

"Where's Beth?" She asked.

"She should…" I realised that the room had been strangely vacant, not to mention quiet, since we'd entered. "Ah, dammit!"

"Son of a bitch!" Deano exclaimed, downing his drink and moving toward the door. "Nothing changes!" I made to follow and he stopped me short with a glare.

"No! You, stay here!" He shouted, looking at Cole. "Keep an eye on him."

The door opened and a young blonde boy sauntered in. "Hey Mom," he said, oblivious to the tension in the room. "Hey Dean… hi Dean."

I didn't have a second to wonder why this kid was seemingly unconcerned by the clones in the room before I found myself face to face with a sawn off shotgun.

"Hold it right there. I got this thing full of silver, mister!" He threatened and I threw my hands in the air.

"Hey, woah! Woah, woah, woah…" Deano said, moving to intercept. "It's weird, but he's not a shapeshifter JJ."

"Oh yeah? Well what is he then?" The boy demanded, his aim now at the chest of Deano. I looked down at this kid, noting the crazy blonde hair, the attitude, not to mention the itchy trigger finger, and then glanced at Cole. _Surely not?_ But then, why not? Of course JJ would be here, Cole would defend him to the death. I was staring at my kid brother, and the thought was beyond strange.

"It's a long story," Cole interjected, drawing his attention. "Put the gun down, now." He obeyed instantly and Deano knelt down, his demeanour instantly changing.

"You haven't, ah, seen anyone strange around the camp have you?"

"Well yeah, found some chick who said she was a friend of yours, but I never seen her before, name's Elizabeth," he answered, shrugging and flopping down on the couch. I noticed the gun stayed with him, even though he was seemingly relaxed.

"Oh yeah?" Deano asked, standing up and exchanging a look with me. "Where is she now?"

"Your place," he replied.

"My...my cabin?" Deano asked, looking at Cole and I thought I detected a hint of colour draining from his face.

"Go," Cole ordered him, giving him a strange look. He nodded, turning back to the door.

"Son of a bitch!" He cursed, walking out and closing it with a slam.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, looking at the boy. "Are you seriously JJ?"

"Sure am," he said with a nod. "Who the hell are you?"

* * *

 _ **Dean's Cabin**_

 **Future Dean's POV**

My heart was pounding out of my chest as I ran the distance from Cole's cabin to mine. Only in the couple of minutes it took did I come to realise just how far it was from mine. I'd walked the distance a thousand times in the last few years, yet it had never seemed to take as long as it did in this moment.

I leaped up the stairs to the door, barging in without warning. "Soph!" I called out, trying to get some control over myself. I stopped short, seeing Beth on the couch, our daughter sitting comfortably in her arms as they read a book. "Beth?"

"Hey," she said, smiling up at me with ease.

"Hey…" I said, a stabbing pain coursing through my heart. Images of Beth with Sophia, as a baby, on her lap flipped through my mind like a movie and I couldn't move.

"Daddy!" Sophia called out, wriggling from Beth's lap and on to the floor.

I watched her run to me, and only then could I move. "Hey baby girl," I said, scooping her up as she reached me and kissing her chubby little cheeks before squeezing her tight against me. Her hair smelled like vanilla, just like Beth's had, and she gave a little squeal of joy before squirming in my arms.

"Daddy you're breaking me," she complained and I laughed, realising I was holding her a little too tight.

"Sorry princess," I said. I dropped her down to the floor and then looked up at Beth who was watching the scene unfold before her, teeth firmly biting down on her lip. The door opened behind me and Charlie bustled in, her usual whirlwind of energy.

"Okay, here I am with a snack! Oh!" She stopped, looking between me and Beth, still holding a plate of cut up apples and oranges. "Hi Dean."

"Hey Charlie," I said, my eyes still on Beth.

"Sorry, I didn't think… I thought it would…well… this is just messed up, you can't tell me otherwise," Charlie stuttered. I forced myself to look at her and nodded.

"Do you mind taking Soph for a walk?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that , I'm sure you guys have lots to talk about," Charlie nodded, and she quickly took Sophia's hand, telling her about the adventure they were about to go on, to find the perfect picnic spot to eat their fruit.

As soon as they were gone I turned back to Beth, who was standing up from the couch. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just looking around, I didn't…"

"You shouldn't be here, Beth," I snapped, the pain of seeing her, in our cabin with Sophia had hit me like nothing else.

"How can you say that? Dean, that's my daughter!" Beth said.

"No she's not!" I said a little too loudly, instantly regretting it as a shocked look flooded her face. I hurried to soothe that hurt, stepping toward her. "I mean, yes, she is yours. I'm sorry. She is, of course she's yours. It's just, she's not…" I stopped short, I couldn't say it.

"Mine…" Beth finished and I nodded, feeling tears start to prick at the back of my eyes as I stared at her.

"God this is messed up," I muttered, silently cursing Zachariah for his bullshit 'interventions'.

"I know," Beth said. "I'm sorry."

"You look just like her… I mean of course you do," I said, fumbling for words. I shook my head, looking down at my feet.

"I'm sorry Dean," she whispered.

"I just… I can't even look at you. It's just…" _too hard,_ I wanted to say.

She crossed the distance between us, her hand coming to rest on my arm and I closed my eyes, nodding to myself and taking a few deep breaths. It had been _so long._

"Well, what's done is done, can't change it," I said, repeating the one thing I'd told myself since she'd died. The only thing that could get me through the days. I couldn't change the past, I could only make the most of right now, and create a better world for our daughter.

"Maybe we can," Beth said quietly, lifting my chin up. I opened my eyes to look at her.

"No, you're here, he's here… that means nothing has changed, Zachariah is trying to get him to wake up," I said, shaking my head.

"Zachariah wants us all dead!" She said, her hand squeezing my arm.

"No, he wants Michael's vessel!" I said angrily, taking a step back.

"I don't care," she insisted.

"And because of it you wind up dead, Beth! Dead! If I could take it all back…"

"No, don't you dare. Don't you dare say you'd choose differently," she said. I looked at her, all the hurt and anguish rising up inside my chest. I grabbed her, pulling her familiar curves into me and holding her tight.

"I would Beth, so help me I would. Because the alternative…"

"The alternative leaves me alone, and a widow…" she mumbled into my chest. I shook my head.

"No… no, not once Michael wins," I said. She pulled back just far enough to look at me, but her hands had come to my waist, and were holding me as close as I was her.

"There's no guarantee, Dean," she said. "You could end up in a mental ward like Raphael's vessel too."

"Zachariah said that wouldn't happen," I said, and she shook her head vehemently, pulling away with a sigh.

"Zachariah lies!"

I felt her absence from my arms like a hot knife, cutting her from me. "Well, maybe not about this," I said, wishing I could just hold her again.

"That's insane, you're kidding yourself," she said.

"No!" I snapped, seeing red. "What's _insane_ is me putting my needs before anyone elses. I didn't think it through. I thought I was right, it was selfish, and it was wrong, and it screwed the whole world over!"

"And what about my needs Dean?! You made a promise to me!" The look of betrayal on her face nearly stopped me short, but I was just as angry - the rage I'd quietly born since her death eating away at me.

"A stupid, stupid promise Beth! That's the problem with this whole family, we ...we put everything else behind saving our family, and it's madness!"

She shook her head at me, her eyes starting to water. "How can you say that?" She whispered.

"How can I not after what's happened?" I asked, my voice softening.

"I didn't spend all those months, in living misery without you, just to see you hand yourself over to an angel war, I don't care what the cost. I'm not going to do it Dean, I'm not…" She shook her head again, her voice breaking slightly before rising. "I've lost everything, I've lost my Mum, my Dad, _our Dad…_ _our baby…._ we have no idea where Sam is. How much am I expected to give here?!"

I fell silent, unable to answer to that. I had failed her in so many ways, and I was doing it again. I shook my head, no words coming to me. She stepped closer, her breathing starting to slow.

"Dean, please, can we _please_ not fight," she asked.

"I lost you…" I whispered.

"You won't," she promised, pulling me back into her arms. I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her back. "We're gonna go back, we're gonna fix this," she added.

I made a concerted effort to pull myself together. "Yeah, yeah you're right," I said, reluctantly letting her go. "Come on. You need to see this, you need to be in on what's going down tomorrow." I turned for the table, pulling the gun out from under my jacket.

"Going down? What are you talking about?" She asked, following. I stopped, turning to show her the gun.

"I was on a mission today, and I won," I said, noticing her eyes drop down to my hands.

"The Colt?" She asked.

"The Colt," I said with a smile.

"Where was it?" She asked, moving to run a hand along its barrel.

"Everywhere," I said, my hand almost trembling with excitement. "They've been moving it around. Took me five years, but...I finally got it. And tomorrow - tomorrow night, I'm gonna kill the Devil."

* * *

 _ **Later That Night  
Dean's Cabin**_

 **Beth's POV**

She was heavy in my arms, this tiny little life that I would one day create. Cole had ushered me into Dean's cabin after we'd all had an impromptu meeting about the Colt, and the plan to kill Lucifer. I found it strangely odd, being alone with this little girl, nestled against me. She'd taken to me as if she'd known me all her life, and now I was walking the boards of the cabin with her resting on my shoulder, fast asleep.

"She looks good in your arms," a voice sounded behind me and I turned to see future Dean standing in the doorway to the only bedroom of the cabin.

"I can't believe she's real," I said softly, moving over to the cot and laying her gently on the mattress. I brushed a hand across her forehead and watched as she rolled on to her side and settled. "She's so happy," I said, turning to find Dean standing next to me, looking down at her.

He watched her, conflict in his eyes as he struggled to gain control of his emotions. I reached out a hand to his, squeezing it as he gripped the side of the cot.

"Dean… what about Ben? Lisa?" I asked the question, but deep down I already knew the answer. They weren't here. I'd always had this theory that if anything happened to me, he'd settle down with her.

"They…" he sighed. "We couldn't get to them before things got … I don't know. They weren't there when we got to the house. I haven't found them, if they're even alive."

"Oh my god…"

"God has left the building, Beth," he said with a sigh. "He was definitely absent the day you…" Wiping a hand across his face, I could see the emotion toying with him.

"How long has it been?" I asked and he let out a long, shaky breath.

"Two years, five months… and three days," he said quietly, the fact that he even knew that number was heart breaking. "Soph was eighteen months old, " he added, glancing over at me. "I should never have left you alone."

"Don't… Dean, you would only ever do what was necessary," I said, reaching out a hand to his hardened face, my heart overspilling with love for him.

"If I'd just been there," he said, shaking his head.

"What did happen?" I asked, wondering if this was against some time travel rule. If he told me, would I do something different? Could I change this future?

Dean took my hand and pulled me into the main part of the cabin, closing the door behind us so we wouldn't disturb Sophia. He gestured to the couch against the wall, and then crossed to a table where there were several bottles of whiskey sitting. He poured us each a drink and then sat with me, turning to look into my eyes.

"When everything went to Hell, we set up compounds," he started, turning eyes to look into the swirling whiskey in his glass. "There was an area West of here that wasn't as infested with Croats, so we set up a compound for the women, children and elderly." I nodded. It seemed like a good idea.

"That's not the case anymore," I pointed out, thinking about the women and children I'd seen earlier, not to mention Sophia.

"No," he said quietly, taking a deep breath.

"What happened?"

"You and Cole went with a group to the compound as command, and I'd get up there when I could to see you, but it was hard, we were still learning about what was going on, there were battles to be fought…" he paused, shaking his head. "One day, a group of Croats attacked the compound you were in, they killed the guards, and it was just pure luck that someone even sounded the alarm to evacuate."

I took a deep breath and he looked at me. "They poured in from all directions, and you guys managed to get everyone on the evac bus, Charlie was driving, you and Cole were shotgun. The gate had only been opened a small amount, not enough for the bus... and someone had to open it…" He stopped and smiled sadly at me. "You ran out the door before Cole could do her usual martyr thing."

I chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like me."

"Well, you got the gate open, but a couple of Croats grabbed you on the way back, you fought them off, but it was too late… they'd… you'd been infected, Cole pulled you back on the bus..." he said with a shaky breath, I dared not even move in case it shattered the mood.

"Charlie drove like a bat out of Hell to get here, but you all knew it was a lost cause. When I saw Cole's face as she pulled up to the Camp I knew something had gone terribly wrong," he said, hanging his head. "And you were on the bus, bleeding…"

I slid a little closer until I was right beside him, reaching up a hand to cup his cheek and looking into his tear-filled eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said softly and he shook his head, laying his hand over mine.

"It's not your fault," he said said forlornly.

Dean looked into my eyes, grieved, a shadow of the man that he'd been showing to everyone else. But then, that had always been the way, he didn't show anyone this side except me, and now I was gone – there was no one for him to let it out to.

"I had to … you were infected, and you held on for as long as you could…" He broke away from my gaze, shaking his head.

"You had to kill me," I said in a matter-of-fact voice and he nodded, his face breaking right in front of me.

"Oh God, I'm sorry Dean," I said, sliding into him and wrapping my arms around his neck as he buried his face into my shoulder, his hands balling at my sides and then grasping me firmly, pulling me into him as he shook with emotion, holding me tight.

"I miss you so much," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

"It's going to be all right," I said, stroking a hand down his back and holding his head close. "I'll fix this, I promise," I said, pulling back to look into his eyes. "I'll fix this; I'll make it so none of this happens, so I don't leave you."

He frowned, clearly fighting an inner turmoil and then he kissed me, his lips catching mine in a desperate will to connect, I moaned softly, my hands sliding up into his hair.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't…" he said when he pulled away and I shook my head. This was my husband, and I loved him, and I wanted to comfort him; but at the same time it was confusing, because the younger version of him was just a short walk away. In a split second I had made my decision, standing up and walking over to the door. I didn't even hesitate, turning the lock on the door and then crossing back to him, taking his face in my hands and lifting his head to mine, stifling his moan with my lips as I claimed his mouth, sliding my tongue in to meet his in a loving, gentle waltz between two.

I climbed into his lap, my legs straddling either side of his thighs as I ran my hands down his chest, pushing back his jacket from his shoulders, and then tugging at the t-shirt he wore underneath. He helped free it, breaking our kiss only long enough to remove the shirt so I could run my hands along his bare torso. He had new scars: a combination of bullet and knife, a few claws.

Dean pulled at the hem of my shirt and freed it over the top of my head while I undid my bra, dropping it to the ground. He groaned, leaning his forehead into my collarbone and taking some deep breaths before pressing his lips in to my neck and sucking along the skin.

I stood up, pulling him with me as he continued to kiss along my bare shoulder while I tugged at his jeans, dropping them to the ground with a rush of fabric, mine soon to follow. He lifted me easily into his arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist, letting him carry us to the bed where he sat with me in his lap again, my cotton panties rubbing against his own.

"Tighty whities? Really?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, he'd only ever worn boxers the entire time I'd known him.

"Yeah well, beggars can't be choosers, lucky to have clothes at all these days," he said with a grin and I laughed, grinding against him. We wouldn't be needing clothes for the near future.

"I'm sure there are plenty of women who would prefer that," I joked and he looked a little pained. I didn't like the little stab of jealousy that thought brought up in me. I brushed it off, and with a growing urgency started to kiss him again, drinking from his lips as he moaned and I felt his hard arousal pressing insistently against me. I slid to my knees, pulling on the waistband of his undies, tugging them down while I watched his hazel eyes bleed dark with desire.

I started to move my lips toward his arousal, but he caught my face, shaking his head and pulling me to my feet, tugging at my undies and then guiding me into his lap again, his erection rubbing slowly along my growing arousal. "I want to see you," he said, kissing me and brushing a hand along my cheek. "I need to see your eyes."

I nodded, and together we moved into a comfortable position, him sitting, me straddling him. I pressed my lips to his, taking my time to love him, my heart racing a little as I felt him respond in kind. He slipped a hand between us, his fingers finding my folds and sliding through them. I was already slick and ready for him, and when he found the wet pool of desire waiting he groaned deep in the back of his throat.

His palm grasped my left breast, kneading it as he continued to slide his fingers through me, brushing lightly over my clit, and then further back, sending shivers down my spine. I could feel his arousal pressing against my buttocks and then sliding forward as I raised myself up. I looked into his eyes, just like he'd asked, as I slid him back and forth between my folds, moaning softly. I was going to do this. I knew it, and watching him, any hesitation I might have had - which was precious little - melted.

I kissed him softly, moving back to stare into candy green eyes as I inched down on him. He sucked in a breath, moaning softly and throwing his head back, baring his neck to me so that I could kiss along it, sucking softly as I worked him inside of me, clamping down and rocking in to him.

He grabbed my hips, starting to move me up and down in his lap, guiding me with a determined rhythm; we weren't going to last long at this rate. I was angled so that every thrust hit my clit and sent shockwaves through my legs. I moaned with desire, holding on to his shoulders.

"Dean… oh god slow it down," I whimpered as another wave rushed through me and he gasped for breath, his movements taking a more languid and gentle approach. I was grinding against him, my arms wrapped around his shoulders as I kissed him over and over, breathing new life into this broken man.

Dean trailed his hands up my back and then around over my shoulders, sliding them down to rest against my breasts as I rocked back a little while he flicked a thumb across each nipple, sending shivers through my core. He drew himself in and out of me, angling so that I could feel him pressed so hard against me, and then he hit the sweet spot causing a delicious spilling of passion. I whimpered from the contact, feeling everything clench at the same time, combined with a finger that came down to rub softly, barely the lightest of touches but enough to send me crazy.

I cried out, grasping his shoulders and rocking slowly into him, drawing it out. Like molten waves of fiery lava my release took hold, teasing me to life and I gasped, looking into his eyes, forcing myself to stay present with him and it was all the more intense because of it. He ran a hand up to my neck, supporting me as I shuddered against him, whimpering from the intense bursts of energy rippling through me, like supernovas going off and creating new life.

With a guttural moan he watched me and I saw his eyes start to glaze over as he swallowed and then pulled down on my hips tightly, holding me on him, grinding and rubbing as he stayed sheathed inside, pushing against that sweet spot and sending me over the edge at the same time as his warmth spread throughout me and he gasped from the relief of his release.

"Oh Beth," he said, pulling me in close and kissing along my shoulder again, burying his face in my neck. "It's been so long."

I held him tightly, tears in my eyes as I sought to comfort him from the pain that was so deep inside. He grasped my hips, lifting as he stood up and carried me over to a single bed tucked in the corner of the room. He sat down, rolling on to his back, and I fell with him, half on top and half on the side of the mattress, my leg thrown over him as I held on. There was the sound of raucous laughter that floated to us over the night air and I looked up long enough to wonder about where Dean was, what he was doing.

"He's with Cole," the Dean in my arms answered, and I looked over at him curiously. "I told her I needed some time alone with you, so she's currently on a mission to get him rolling drunk."

I laughed softly, nodding. "I'm sure his head will thank you in the morning," I commented and he snorted.

"He'll live."

He shifted to the side until I was on the mattress and then moved to position me on my back, spreading my legs open and pushing a couple of fingers inside me, stroking me, teasing me to arousal again.

"Already?" I asked without an ounce of surprise.

"I told you," he answered with a grin, leaning in to me and kissing along my breast while he flicked a finger and caused me to arch with the incredible pleasure he was sending through my body. "I've missed you."

He hesitated for a moment, looking down at me. "I wasn't sure you'd… I mean, this is weird for you, right?"

I shook my head negatively at him, and leaned up to kiss him. "No. No, it's not. Now stop talking… make love to me." He smiled, kissing me back deeply.

Within minutes he was erect again and sliding in to me, sawing his way in and out, driving me insane with the intense rush it was causing. I looked into his eyes and I saw a heart that was mending, just for a short fraction of time, in this stolen moment outside of our world, and I knew why I could never live without him, I saw what I always saw when I looked at him: pure, unconditional love.

An hour later we lay twisted in each other's' arms, stroking along soft skin. "I love you," I said to Dean, looking up at him. "I always have, I always will."

His eyes got a little watery as he looked at me and smiled, leaning in to kiss my forehead. "Ditto, sugarpie, ditto."

"God my heart is breaking for you," I whispered and he bit his lip, stroking a hand along my cheek.

"It's all right," he said quietly, watching me. "This is more than I could have hoped for tonight. I half expected you turn me away..."

"How can you say that? I'm your wife," I said, sitting up a little and looking over at him.

"No, you're _his wife,_ " Dean said, nodding in the direction of the shack where the bar was located. "My wife is dead."

"Not tonight," I said. "And you're the same person."

"I don't know that I'd agree with that. If he were to walk in right now, it'd break his heart," he said softly and I knew it to be true. I kissed him again, a sadness in my eyes.

"Maybe, but I think he'd understand… eventually. I don't regret it, because to me you're both the same person."

He smiled, brushing the hair out of my eyes. "That's why I love you," he said softly. "You're always thinking of everyone else."

"Well I know one thing," I said with a grin, feeling a little cheeky. "You've learned some new tricks since 2009…" I said, raising my eyebrow at him. "Where did you learn that, uh, that last thing?"

He chuckled and kissed me, nuzzling his way along my neck to my ear. "You taught me," he whispered and I pulled back with a curious look.

"Talk about chicken and the egg," I said, thinking about what that had to mean. Dean laughed and nodded.

"Unless you're tricking me," I said. "To spare my feelings."

He frowned and shook his head. "It's the truth."

"You trying to tell me you've been some celibate monk since I died?" I asked and he bit his lip.

"No…" he said. "There's been… a few, just overnight. Nothing serious." He almost looked guilty. I nodded, I'd guessed as much. "No one compares to you, I will never love anyone like I love you."

"I just want you to be happy Dean," I said, kissing him.

"Then go back, do what it takes to stay alive," he said quietly. I nodded, burying my face in his shoulder, running my hand along his chest.

"I will," I said. "I don't ever want to leave you."

Later, when the bar had fallen silent, I started to wonder just how late it had gotten, and where Dean was. Apparently the same was on my companion's mind.

"You should go," he said finally, stroking his hand along my shoulders. "He'll be wondering where you are." I bit my lip and nodded, looking up at him. I kissed him tenderly, looking into his resigned hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, but he shook his head.

"Don't be, you've given me more than I've had in a long time," he replied, kissing my forehead and climbing out of bed, tugging me to my feet. He handed my bra to me and once I'd put that back on he kissed along my collarbone, falling to his knees.

I watched as he slipped my undies on around my ankles and then slid them back up, his hands trailing along my legs and sending shivers to my feet. Then my jeans followed and he stood to button them up, pulling me into him and kissing me again.

Finally he reached for my shirt, slipping it over my head and pulling it down as I slid my arms into the sleeves. One last look, taking my face between his hands he leaned down to claim my lips, drinking from me as if a man in the desert who was downing his last drop of water.

"I love you, I never told you enough," he whispered as he pulled back and tears welled in my eyes. I reached up a hand and stroked it along his face.

"I love you more than life itself," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting him lift me into him, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist. After a moment he let out a shuddering breath and placed me back on my feet.

"Go," he said softly, and I nodded, grabbing my jacket and walking to the door. I hesitated, my hand on the handle and looked back at him. He didn't look, his head hanging down, his shoulders dejected. There was nothing I could do.

"I can't… Dean I can't," I said, a sob escaping my lips as I saw defeated look.

Dean looked up in consternation, crossing the room quickly and pulling me to him, kissing my lips, eyes, forehead. "It's okay, Beth," he promised, squeezing me again.

"I don't want to leave you like this, how can I do that?" I asked, clinging to him.

"I'm sorry," he said, kissing my forehead again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you here tonight."

"No, I needed to know, I needed to see."

There was a whimpering sound from the other room, and we froze, listening as Sophia called out for me.

"She was so young, how does she even remember me?"

"I show her your picture, every day," he answered. "Just like I used to do for Sammy."

"Oh Dean…" I buried my face into his neck. "God our lives, they're like this repeating theme…"

"Yeah, I know," he whispered, rocking me softly.

"Mama!" Sophia called out again and I felt jittery and anxious all of a sudden. Was this motherhood? Having a baby call out to you and knowing you'd do anything to make her feel better? With a start I realised it was how I felt about Sam, even though we were practically the same age. It dawned on me, that despite Dean's tough exterior and words, he had to be feeling the same way when Sam called, asking to rejoin us. It would be thousand times worse for him; he'd raised his brother.

"Come on," Dean said, taking my hand and leading us into the room. Sophia was standing in her cot, it was almost too small for her. She grasped the side and smiled as soon as she saw us.

"Hugs!" She said, extending her arms out.

"She is too cute," I said with a smile as I picked her up. Like a little octopus, Sophia wrapped herself around my neck, and Dean followed suit, pulling us both into his arms and squeezing us together. We stood for a long while together, a family, and I felt the settling of his heart; he seemed calmer.

It occurred to me that tomorrow everything could change, and suddenly I was filled with foreboding.

"Dean… tomorrow."

"Shhhh, not in front of Soph," he said, caressing my face with his hand.

I sighed and nodded, looking down at the girl who was squirming in my arms and smiling.

"God she's so beautiful."

"She has a beautiful mother," he replied and I smiled, kissing him.

"Her father is pretty hot too, you know," I said with a grin.

Dean's face furrowed into a frown and he led us back into the main cabin, picking up a toy shape sorter from the floor and handing it to Sophia. She took it and I placed her on the couch where she sat placidly playing.

"Her father is a desperate, angry old man," Dean said to me, pulling me to the other side of the cabin. "You always said I shouldn't let myself turn into Dad...but I did Beth. When I lost you. I… I get it now, why he was the way he was. The only difference is I can't escape this nightmare with her, I can't take her on the road."

"Oh Dean," I sighed, holding his hands. "You will never be completely like Dad."

"Not while I have you," he said. "But, with you gone. Everything I had to live for…"

"You have Sophia," I cut in.

"It's not the same, Beth. It's not. God help me, I've tried to make it enough. But I'm consumed with this… I will see it to the end. For her, and JJ. So they don't grow up in this world… or worse. But Beth… the things I'm going to have to do tomorrow."

"You can do it, you're strong," I said.

"I don't know if I am."

"Then we'll do it together," I promised, knowing deep down that there was no way I could guarantee I'd even be here. How long was Zachariah going to see this through? How did I even know I'd be here in the morning.

"Together," he said quietly. "Separating was my biggest mistake," he said.

"You did what you thought best," I replied.

"And I was wrong, Beth. I should have listened to you."

I swallowed, watching him battle with his inner demons. There was nothing to be done.

There was a round of raucous laughter outside and I jumped, not expecting it - we both recognised Dean's familiar laugh, and Cole's along with it. Dean sighed.

"When you get back there, you make him listen, Beth. You tell him…"

"I won't ever tell him to agree to Michael, Dean. I won't, I can't," I cut in.

Dean sighed with frustration, groaning and pulling me to him, his forehead pressed to mine.

"You want me to go with my gut feelings?" I asked, starting to sob again. "Well… that's not it, Dean. It's not."

"Okay, all right," he said with a nod. "But you guys stick together, through thick and thin, you hear me? We're stronger together."

"We are," I agreed, kissing him. "We always have been."

"You need to go," he said again and I shook my head. "Beth, he'll be starting to wonder where you are."

"I… I can't."

"Yes, you can. You and him, together. You do it for us."

"What about you? You shouldn't be alone tonight" I said, and he sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, okay. You're right. I'm gonna need some sleep anyway. I'll see if Charlie can keep us company."

"She seems nice," I said, my heart lightening just at the thought of the flamboyant and slightly awkward red head.

"She's the best," he said, his frown turning to a smile. "You loved her. She was like a sister."

I smiled, thinking about that. We had Cole, of course, and I'd always had Dean and Sam, but the thought of another sister in our little odd family didn't hurt at all.

"I look forward to meeting her," I said softly. "And I'm glad you have her, and she has you."

* * *

 _ **Cole's Cabin  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd made it back from the bar, but I realised I was sorely out of practice when it came to the kind of drinking post-apocalypse people did. I supposed there wasn't a lot of other entertainment in this world given the state of it.

My mind had wandered a few times to Beth, missing her familiar presence while out drinking, but Cole had quickly reassured me that she was visiting Sophia, trying to wrap her head around everything she'd learned. I found it odd, and after five minutes with _our daughter_ I'd quickly excused myself. It was too strange to think about, but Beth was different. This was the child I'd promised her. I had been mulling it over all night.

"Yo, Earth to Winchester," Cole's voice broke through my revelry. "Have I got a challenge for you, pipsqueak," she announced, staggering over to the cupboard against the wall. She bent down and I caught a flash of ass in her tight jeans and did a double take, _just what the hell had been going on between her and Deano?_

"So uh, you and me, huh? Never would have picked it..." I said, trying to keep my voice all jovial and nonchalant. Cole practically hit her head on a shelf in her haste to straighten up.

"Come again?" She asked, spinning around with wide eyes.

"You and me? I copped a whapping from … uh, Risa… earlier today. She was more than a little jealous," I commented, pouring myself another drink. Cole burst into laughter, and I felt a little take aback at the reaction.

"Oh...my...god, dude! Are you serious? You believed her? Us? Really?" She asked, her eyes wide as she chortled at me. "I'd rather diddle myself, Dean, uh, no offence."

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"One. You're Beth's _husband_ ," she said.

"Well, Beth's dead in your world, sunshine," I pointed out.

"Not to me," Cole said soberly. "Not to Dean."

We fell silent, and she turned around, resuming her search in the cupboard.

"Call it, mutual commiserations," she said, glancing back at me. "You're a good looking man, Dean. I'll give you that. Every woman in this camp, except maybe Charlie, wants a piece of him. The fact that he's emotionally unavailable just makes him all the more attractive. He hates it."

I nodded, I could see that. I didn't fancy the idea of losing Beth, and if I did, I'd hate to be hit on by anyone else. I took a long drink of my whiskey and felt my legs start to waver - I really had been drinking too much.

"So, uh, what's the story then?" I asked, taking a seat.

"We were hanging out one night shortly after she… it Beth's birthday - and he stayed over. Didn't want to be alone. Nothing happened, but that's not the story that got around Camp. After that, we had a few sleepovers, let people make their own assumptions - it stopped the advances, mostly." she replied. "Aha!" Cole stood up, turned around and waved a checkers board in the air. "Found it!"

I smirked, recalling our old drinking game. "You get the shot glasses," she said, "we are so doing this, cowboy."

"All right, short stack, but you gotta remember - I don't lose at this game, remember Beth's 21st?"

Cole laughed. "Do I remember? Dude, that was one painful week trying to convince her to get over herself." She dropped the board down on the table, noting that I hadn't actually moved from where I was sitting. "Ha, you can't even walk, can you?"

"Sure I can!" I said defensively. "I just don't know where the glasses are." It was as good an excuse as any.

She snorted, shaking her head and moving to the cabinet over the bench. "Sure, sure…"

"So, you said it stopped the advances. What about Deano and Risa?" I asked, my thoughts returning to the original question.

"One night," she replied, grabbing two handfuls of shotglasses and bringing them over, dropping them on the board. "Set these up," she ordered before moving back to the cupboard.

"Risa is a great girl, kills Croats like nobody's business, but she's like a stage five clinger," Cole said.

"Stage five?" I repeated with a grimace.

"With a vengeance," Cole said with a nod. "I don't know what he was thinking."

"Brown eyes," I murmured, recalling the girl from earlier. "Brown hair…"

"Ah," she said as if finally making the connection. "Just like Lisa."

I grimaced, but nodded. "Yeah… just like Lisa."

Cole shook her head at me. "Lisa's a great girl too, from what Beth told me. But she's not Beth."

"No," I replied. "No one is like Beth."

"You took forever to make your move Romeo, I dont know what you were thinking."

"The timing was never right," I reminisced. "Unlike you _and Dad,_ I couldn't just take her off on a hunt on our own. He was practically always around. Especially after he issued the ultimatum."

It was Cole's turn to grimace. "Yeah… that … that might have been my fault, actually," she confessed, dumping another set of glasses on the board. She ignored my curious look and started to set them up, ready for pouring.

"Go on…"

"Uh… well… that was the weekend he'd called in to Dad's. Hurt. We uh, well … I'll spare you the details but let's just say it was my first time, and he freaked out when he realised."

I spat out the whiskey in my mouth, unfortunately having been in the middle of a drink at that moment, and watched it spray all over her.

"Eewwww, Dean!" She cried out, wiping at her top with a teatowel.

"You can talk!" I said, taking another drink straight from the bottle. "That is an image that ain't _ever_ leaving my mind!"

"Oh shut up! It's perfectly natural," she retorted, grabbing the other bottle and taking a drink herself before starting to fill the shotglasses on the board.

"Just the same…" I said, but now my mind was on the way dad had exploded at the motel, having found us lying on the beds in towels, just talking, perfectly innocent for the most part. Suddenly it all made sense if he'd thought he'd just screwed up himself.

"Well, you guys figured it out," Cole cut in. "Eventually."

"Yeah…" I agreed, looking at the board. I made the decision to let it go, the past was the past, couldn't do anything about it now. "Well, prepare to be the next contender to fall before the mighty Dean," I announced with a laugh. "I'll even let you go first."

Cole snorted, taking a seat opposite me at the table. "You are on, brother. Prepare to die."

* * *

 _ **A short time later  
**_ _ **Dean's Cabin**_

 **Beth's POV**

Opening the door, I brushed a few tears from my eyes and crossed the compound to Cole's cabin. Someone was moving around, actually I should say _staggering_ around, his silhouette in the window, and I realised quickly that it was Dean. I opened the door and he spun around, almost falling over.

"Babe!" He said with a smile, crossing quickly to envelop me in his arms. "Where have you been?" I laughed softly and squeezed him to me, leaning into his warmth.

"I've been visiting Dean and Sophia," I answered, hoping my voice was as level as I wanted it to be.

When I opened my eyes and looked over his shoulder I spotted Cole sitting at the table, a checkers board out with very few shot glasses left in our infamous drinking game, and it looked like she was winning. She smiled coyly at me, raising an eyebrow and then winking.

"How was your evening?" She asked, a twinkle in her eye.

"Uh, yeah... good, interesting," I said non-committally. Dean pulled back and looked at me.

"How is Sophia?" He asked and I smiled at him.

"She's beautiful," I said, "she's perfect."

"Well look at her mother," he said with a smile, leaning in to kiss me.

Cole snickered and jumped the three of Dean's remaining shot glasses in one go, downing them one after the other, and then standing up with a bit of a sway.

"Read 'em and weep baby, Dean Winchester is no longer the champ at this game!" She declared and Dean turned to look at the board in horror.

"What? No! I _never lose_ at this game!" He said, staggering over to the table and staring in disbelief.

"Well pay up dude, you just did," she said, holding out her hand. Dean sighed and looked at her, then pulled his favourite pocket knife out of his jeans pocket, looking forlornly at it before sighing and gesturing toward the door.

"Okay, outta here!" He said with a wave of his hand and an indignant sniff.

"Wait, this is Cole's cabin!" I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, we agreed I'd stay in with Charlie tonight. JJ is already over there," Cole replied, looking at him with a chuckle and then crossed to me, leaning in so I could only hear.

"Sorry, I tried to get him passed out, he's got some serious stamina! Worse than his damn father. Looks like you're in for a long night girl, hope you can still walk in the morning," she said and my mouth dropped to the floor.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said innocently, but she could see it in my eyes, my poker face wasn't that good.

"Yeah, yeah, I wasn't born yesterday," she laughed while Dean continued to stare at the checkers board, shaking his head. "Only this one would be innocent enough to believe you two were just _talking_ all night," she added, flipping her head in Dean's direction.

"Huh?" Dean asked, looking over at us. "What did you say?"

"Oh nothing, just that I think Beth is in for a wild and woolly night, and I hope you don't break her," Cole said with a grin, moving quickly for the door.

Dean stared after her and then when the door closed he chuckled.

"Hmmm, she does have a point," he said, sliding across the floor and pulling me into his arms. "I've missed you," he added as he kissed along my neck, nuzzling into my skin. I groaned and leaning in to him, sliding my hands around his waist.

"God but I'm so tired..." I complained and Dean pulled back a little, frowning.

"Really?" He asked, looking at me. "Because if you are we could...well we could just go to sleep." His eyes however were saying he wanted to do anything but that, he was disappointed and I could already feel his arousal pressing into my thigh.

"Well, maybe I'm not that tired," I said with a smile, leaning in to kiss him and groaning internally.

Dean chuckled and went to pour me a drink, handing it to me with a smile. "So what did you guys talk about all night?" He asked, nodding toward Dean's cabin.

"Oh, just Sophia, and the compound... you didn't really miss anything," I said and he nodded.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised," he said, putting down his drink and coming over to slide his hands around me. "If it were me I'd have been going nuts. He … didn't... try anything... did he?"

I smiled, kissing him quickly. "He was the perfect gentleman," I said, avoiding a direct answer. It wasn't technically a lie, Dean always treated me with the grace of a gentleman.

He smiled again and then suddenly he grabbed me around the waist, pulling me to the bed and pushing me back against the pillows.

"Let's make a baby," he said, his eyes changing to complete seriousness as I stared up at him from the flat of my back.

"What? Dean we're in the middle of the Apocalypse!" I said incredulously. He shrugged and kissed my neck, looking back down at me.

"So? What else is new? If we wait until we're not in the thick of things we'll be old and grey," he pointed out and I had to admit, he was right.

Hot hands were running along my side, sliding my top up over my stomach and he leaned down to kiss my belly button and the stretch marks from when I'd carried our son. I wrapped my legs around his and ran them down his skin, caressing him softly.

"Well, let's talk about it when you're sober, huh?" I said. "Nothing we can do about it tonight," I said.

"Other than practice," he said with a grin, but the alcohol was already starting to get to him. I knew it wouldn't take much for him to pass out. I smiled and pushed him on to his back, unbuckling his pants and starting to slide his erection through my hand. I knew from experience that if I timed this right, he would pass out before long, and I could avoid the guilty feeling of having already done this earlier. While I didn't think I'd done anything wrong, he'd know as soon as he felt me.

"Okay romeo, just lie back and relax, this one's on me," I said, and leaned down, flipping my tongue around his tip, eliciting a low moan from him.

"God, I love my wife."

* * *

 _ **The Next Morning**_

 **Dean's POV**

My head was splitting in two and I grimaced, climbing out of bed to pour myself a glass of water from a jug Cole had left us on the table. I groaned, taking a long drink and then turned back to look at Beth in the bed, tangled up in the sheets. She was so beautiful, I just wanted to keep her there forever, the fear of losing her, now made manifest with what Deano was going through sat heavy in my stomach, and I shook my head, regretting it instantly. It hadn't been hard to drown my sorrows last night, I had a lot I didn't want to look at, and Cole had provided the perfect solution.

Beth stirred and opened her eyes, smiling over at me. "Good morning," she murmured, stretching and I saw a peek of pink skin peeping out at me from under the sheet and I wanted to moan and take that nipple in my mouth.

"Good morning," I said with a smile, crossing back to her and kissing her lips instead. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," she said with a grin, lying back on the pillow and groaning. "Tired, but good." I had a sneaky suspicion I'd passed out on her in the middle of repaying her amazing blowjob last night, but if I had, she didn't seem to be holding it against me.

I smiled, pouring her a glass of water and carrying it over to her, my head suddenly on what was going to happen later. "So, big day today."

"Yeah, huge," she agreed, nodding.

"Did he tell you anything more about what was going on?"

"Nope, he was tight lipped on anything mission-like," Beth said and I sighed. Sounded about right.

There was a noise at the door, and I looked up as Cole stuck her head around to peer at us. "Up and at 'em sleepy heads!" She said, waltzing in with plates of baked beans, seemingly completely oblivious to my nudity. "Dean's holding a debrief in half an hour, he wants you both there."

"What happened to keeping a low profile?" I asked, scrambling for my boxer shorts on the floor, and she smirked.

"Kind of late for that, isn't it? Although, a lot of people are talking about how they've never seen you quite _that drunk_ before last night," she said with a grin.

"Ha!" I said. "Sounds like I have a reputation to build. What's he going soft?"

"Something like that," Cole said, "fatherhood will do that to you Dean."

I fell silent. I didn't know what to say in reply. I had been all gung-ho last night about making a baby, but in the raw light of day, and sobriety… I had to ask myself whether it was such a great idea.

"Yeah, I suppose it would," I said quietly, turning to Beth who smiled sadly at me.

"Okay, well let's get this show on the road then," I said, nodding. "Because if he's killing the devil tonight, I'm all in."

"See you there in 30," she said as she waltzed out the door. "Nice ass, Winchester!"

* * *

 _ **30mins later**_

 _ **Headquarters  
**_ **Beth's POV**

"So, that's it? That's the Colt?" A pretty brunette named Risa was asking of her commander as I looked around the room. This girl, another man I didn't know, plus Cas made up the team along with two Deans, Cole and myself.

Future Dean nodded, placing it on the round table we were all sitting around. "If anything can kill Lucifer, this is it."

"Great. Have we got anything that can _find_ Lucifer?" She asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. I had a moment to wonder whether something else was going on, but Dean seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Are you okay?" He asked with a frown.

"Oh," my _past_ Dean piped up from across the table. " _We_ were in, uh, Cole's cabin the night before last. And, apparently, _we_ and … Risa, have a 'connection'." He air-quoted the word, and Cole rolled her eyes, moving to place herself between Risa and future Dean.

"Cole's cabin, really?" I asked, looking at future Dean, and then Cole. I didn't see it.

"It's not what you think," he said, looking at me with a guarded expression.

Risa snorted and threw her hands in the air. "No, it never is, is it Dean?"

"Oh the drama of this little paradise of ours," Cas said with a chuckle.

"Shut up Cas, just because some of us look for a real connection instead of having orgies," Risa snapped.

"And some of us look for connections that aren't there," Cole supplied. I watched, flabbergasted at the turn this meeting had taken.

"You want to shut up?" Future Dean said to Cole, glancing at me.

"Yeah, okay. How about we all take a chill pill?" Past Dean said, the voice of reason.

"Whatever," Risa said, glaring at Cole who shrugged and turned to future Dean.

"We don't have to find Lucifer. We know where he is. The demon that we caught last week, he was one of the big guy's entourage. He knew," Dean said.

"So, a demon tells you where Satan's gonna be, and you just believe it?" Risa asked.

"Oh, trust me, he wasn't lying," Dean replied and shuddered at the tone in his voice. I'd seen in action, I knew what he was talking about.

"And you know this how?" Risa challenged.

"Our fearless leader, I'm afraid, is all too well schooled in the art of getting to the truth," Cas replied, looking first at me, and then future Dean.

"Torture?" His counterpart asked. "Oh, so, we're—we're torturing again." Future Dean looked at his clone with a glare and Dean shrugged. "No, that's… that's good. Classy."

Cas laughed, earning a glare himself.

"What?" Cas asked, looking at future Dean. "I like past you."

"Lucifer is here. Now." Cole cut in with a stern look around the room. "We know the block and we know the building." She pushed Dean's pocketknife into the soft wood of the table, marking the spot on the map that covered its surface.

"Oh, good—it's right in the middle of a hot zone." Cas said, throwing his hands up.

"Crawling with Croats, yeah. You saying my plan is reckless?" Future Dean asked.

"Are you saying we, uh, walk in straight up the driveway, past all the demons and the Croats, and we shoot the Devil?" Cas replied.

"Yes."

Cas shrugged. "Okay, if you don't like, uh, 'reckless', I could use 'insouciant', maybe."

"Are you coming?" Cole asked pointedly, looking at Cas.

"Of course," he said. "But why are they?" He asked, gesturing first to me, and then past Dean. "I mean, he's you five years ago. If something happens to him, you're gone, right?"

"They're coming," Future Dean replied without giving a reason. I thought back to the conversation we'd had the day before, how he couldn't go on, and how I'd promised we'd do this together. I wondered if I was the only thing keeping him together right now.

"Okay. Well, uh. I'll get the grunts moving," Cas said, standing up.

"We're loaded and on the road by midnight," Cole said.

"All righty," Cas agreed, taking Risa and the other man with him.

"Why are you taking us?" Past Dean asked as soon as they were gone.

"Relax. You'll be fine. Zach's looking after you, right?" His counterpart said, taking the Colt off the table and slipping it into his jacket.

"No, that's not what I mean. I want to know what's going on," Dean said.

"Yeah, okay. You're coming because I want you to see something. I want you to see our brother," came the reply.

"What?!" I asked, looking up from where I'd been staring at the map. "Sam?"

"Sam?" Dean asked. "I thought he was dead."

"Sam didn't die in Detroit," Cole replied. "He said 'yes'."

"'Yes?'" I echoed. The room fell silent as Future Dean and Cole looked knowingly at us.

"Wait," past Dean said. "You mean…?"

"That's right. The big 'yes'. To the devil. Lucifer's wearing him to the prom," future Dean replied.

"Why would he do that?" I asked, the shock hitting me like a tonne of bricks. We'd worked so hard to keep him safe, to keep him out of this, and now… "Wait, Sam is a _vessel?"_ I said suddenly.

"You didn't know?" Cole asked.

"You never told her?" past Dean asked, looking at his counterpart who grimaced, and bit his lip. "He called us, he wanted back in."

"Wait, that was _the other night?"_ I asked, looking at past Dean. "You hung up on him." I looked at future Dean. " _You_ never went after him!" He looked pained, and I couldn't decide who I was angrier with. Dean for hiding the vessel information from me, or his futuristic version for never telling me, even later.

"I was going to… and then you and Cole were attacked …" Future Dean's voice dropped off and I shook my head, feeling a range of emotions hit me: sadness, anger, despair, love, desperation and betrayal…

"Look, we've all made mistakes," Cole said quietly. "We don't know why Sam agreed to let Lucifer in, but he did. And now we don't have a choice."

"It's in him, and it's not getting out," future Dean said, looking from me to his clone. "And we've got to kill him, Dean. And you need to see it—the whole damn thing, how bad it gets—so you can do it different."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Zach said he was gonna bring you back, right? To oh-nine?"

"Yeah," Dean replied.

"Well, when you get back home—you say 'yes'. You hear me? Say 'yes' to Michael," he said.

"What!" I exclaimed.

"That's crazy," Dean replied. "If I let him in, then Michael fights the devil. The battle's gonna torch half the planet."

"Dean, we talked about this!" I said, grabbing his arm.

"Look around you, man," future Dean said, ignoring me. "Half the planet's better than no planet, which is what we have now. If I could do it over again, I'd say 'yes' in a heartbeat."

"So why don't you?" Dean asked.

"I've tried!" Future Dean said, pulling away from me. "I've shouted 'yes' till I was blue in the face! The angels aren't listening! They just—left—gave up! It's too late for me, but for you…"

"No, no. There's got to be another way," I said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I was cocky. Never actually thought I'd lose. But I was wrong, Beth. And I know what I said last night… and if all else fails, I mean it. You guys stick together. But, Dean. I was wrong. I'm begging you. Say yes." He stared at his counterpart and I shook my head, the room starting to spin with the desperation I was feeling. I was starting to breathe a little harder, panic clutching at my heart that Dean might actually listen and be taken from me.

"But you won't," future Dean said after a pause. "'Cause I didn't. Because that's just not us, is it?"

* * *

 _ **Later that evening  
Camp Chitaqua  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

I was going to be riding with Cas and Beth, she'd been fuming ever since the conversation earlier. Apparently she and Deano had agreed that I wouldn't say yes to Michael, but now he was reneging, begging me to do it. I looked at the world around us, and I had to wonder if maybe he didn't have a point. Right now though, my mind was on our brother, who we were going to have to kill in order to put a stop to everything. I didn't know how I felt about that, I had tried not thinking about it.

A part of me was telling myself that it had always been destined to go down like this. Maybe this had been Lucifer's plan all along, all those decades ago when he's sent Yellow Eyes into Sam's nursery, hellbent on turning him in his demon poster boy. The other part of me wanted to believe there was a plan here, one that was going to see Sam rescued, because that's what Beth and I did, we kept him safe, we watched over him.

All of me was at war with what was coming.

"So, you're really from oh-nine?" Chuck asked me as he walked with me to the trucks.

"Yeah, afraid so," I replied.

"Some free advice?" He said. "You ever get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it. Hoard it like it's made of gold. 'Cause it is."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Chuck." I wondered how this odd little man had even survived this long, yet here he was, about to enter into the hot zone with us to kill the Devil. I found my respect growing tenfold for him.

"Oh, you'll thank me, all right. Mark my words," Chuck said with a nod.

"I'll see you around," I said, reaching the truck I'd be travelling in, looking up to see Cas and Beth already in the cabin.

"Yeah. Okay," Chuck said with a nod. He walked down, following the convoy as I opened the door and climbed in next to Beth.

 _ **Some time later**_

We'd been on the road for hours. Apparently when Deano had said Lucifer was "right here" he'd meant a six hour road trip. Of course, I suppose in the grand scheme of 'here' vs. Australia, he was right. Cas was still driving, and I looked over as he opened a container, popping a couple of pills in his mouth and washing them down with some water from a canteen.

"Let me see those," I said, reaching across Beth who was fiddling with her rosary, lost in thought.

"You want some?" Cas asked. I looked at the bottle, reading the label.

"Amphetamines?" I asked.

"It's the perfect antidote to that absinthe," Cas replied. I shook my head.

"Mmm. Don't get me wrong, Cas. I, uh. I'm happy that the stick is out of your ass, but—what's going on—w-with the drugs and the orgies and the love-guru crap?"

Cas laughed, and Beth looked up curiously at him.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Dean, I'm not an angel anymore," Cas replied.

"What?"

"Yeah, I went mortal," he said as if he'd just announced he was going down the street to get bread. The ease he said it with was astounding.

"What do you mean? How?" Beth asked.

"I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving. But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of— psshhew!—drained away. And now, you know, I'm practically human. I mean, I'm all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months."

"Wow," I said, speechless.

"Yeah," Cas agreed.

"So, you're human. Well, welcome to the club," I said, finally.

"Thanks. Except I used to belong to a much better club. And now I'm powerless. I'm hapless, I'm hopeless. I mean, why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby. That's what decadence is for. Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out? But then that's, that's just how I roll," he said, turning his attention back to the road.

Beth shook her head, turning her attention back to her rosary. I frowned, watching her.

"Sugarpie, don't get me wrong," I started, "I'm glad to see that you're keeping the faith and all, but seriously. A prior angel just said all the other angels are gone. Who the hell are you praying to?"

"God," Cas replied for her as Beth glanced over at me. "She's praying to God."

"God?" I asked. "You really think he's listening?"

Beth shrugged, biting her lip. "I have to believe that Dean. Because nothing else makes any sense."

"Sense? None of this makes sense!" I said, shaking my head. "I mean, first a bunch of angels _conspire_ to let Lucifer out of his cage. Then they try to get us to wage war against him, _using our bodies_. And when we don't agree to that and Lucifer starts destroying the world, they abandon their posts! I mean, if that ain't enough to get God's attention, I don't know what is."

"God works in mysterious ways," she commented, saying what she's told me her father had said countless times before to her. The phrase infuriated her, yet here she was repeating it verbatim.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," I replied with a sigh, looking out the window.

Cas laughed again.

"What's so funny?" I asked, looking at him.

Cas turned to Beth, catching her gaze.

"Maybe you're praying to the wrong one," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Wrong one?" Beth asked, watching him.

"Wrong God?" I queried.

"Maybe," he said. "You know, Sariel was on a different mission to mine," he continued. "I was determined to find God to fix this, and well, clearly I failed," he waved a hand around and laughed. "But Sariel… she was, determined, the only one who could fix this was our Mother."

"Mother," I said with amusement. "The mother of angels?"

"Sure," he said with a nod. "You didn't think God made us all on his own did you?"

"Sophia," Beth said softly.

"Yes," Cas nodded.

"Sophia?" I asked. "What does our daughter have to do with this?"

"Nothing," Beth said. "It's a Biblical name. The Wisdom of God. Often said to be the feminine aspect of Divinity… I thought she was just a part of God." Beth explained.

"In a way she is, as much as God is the masculine part of the whole. Divinity, Creator, the One who birthed us all, first came the yin and the yang - Yahweh and Sophia," Cas said. "Not that we're allowed to talk about Her," he added.

"Why not?"

"She was banished, by Him," Cas said and then he hit the breaks, the truck jerking to a standstill. "What the?"

The entire convoy had come to a halt, and as the sky started to lighten with the promise of dawn, I saw Deano, Cole and Chuck exit their trucks, working their way back to us. Chuck climbed up on the side step and smiled brightly in at us.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" He asked.

"Well," Cas said in reply. "It's not going at all. Why have we stopped?"

Deano stepped up on the passenger door, leaning in. "Bridge is out ahead, a few trees came down and took it out - recent too," he said. "But we're close, maybe an hour's hike out. We'll go on foot the rest of the way."

I groaned internally at the thought, but didn't complain.

"Great," Cas said with a sigh. "Well, no time to lose I guess. Let's go tango with the Devil."

* * *

 _ **An hour later  
Hot Zone**_

 **Future Dean's POV**

I could do this. I _had_ to do this. I hadn't come this far, sacrificed so much, not to succeed tonight. The area was distressingly clear of Croats, and the further we walked in, carrying our guns and scanning the area, the more it was becoming clear to me that we were headed into a trap. Lucifer knew we were coming. My only option now was to try and take him by surprise, and come in the back way while the others mounted a full frontal offense.

"There," I said, crouched low in the bushes surrounding the old Sanitarium. "Second-floor window. We go in there."

Cole frowned at the rickety fire escape that would get them to the window. "You sure about this?"

"They'll never see us coming. Trust me. Now, weapons check. We're on the move in five," I said. The others looked uneasy, but if there was one thing I could count on, it was their obedience. They did trust me.

"Hey, uh, me. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Other Dean said to me and I nodded, stepping away with him.

"Tell me what's going on," he said as soon as we were alone. I feigned ignorance, but I could tell he was on to me.

"What?"

"I know you," he said, glancing back at the group. " You're lying to these people and to me."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. See, I know your lying expressions. I've seen them in the mirror. Now, there's something you're not telling us," he said. He had me, but I couldn't worry about that now, the job had to be done.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

"Oh, really?" Came the skeptical reply. "Well, I don't seem to be the only member of your posse with some questions, so, uh, maybe I'll just take my doubts over to them, starting with Cole, or maybe Beth - she knows us better than anyone."

"Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait," I said, stopping him before he could get to Beth. She'd know instantly he was right.

"What?" He asked.

"Take a look around you, man. This place should be white-hot with Croats. Where are they?" I pointed out. He paused, thinking it over and then nodded his agreement.

"They cleared a path for us. Which means that this is…"

"A trap," I finished, nodding. "Exactly."

"Well, then we can't go through the front," he said.

"Oh, we're not. They are. _They're_ the decoys. You, me and Beth, we're going in through the back," I said.

"You mean you're gonna feed your friends into a meat grinder? Cole and Cas, too? You want to use their deaths as a diversion?" He asked. I looked away. He knew exactly what I was about to do, and I suspected he wasn't going to let me go through with it.

"Oh, man, something is broken in you. You're making decisions that I would never make. I wouldn't sacrifice my friends," he said to me and I glared at him.

"You're right. You wouldn't. It's one of the main reasons we're in this mess, actually," I snapped.

"These people count on you. They trust you. What about JJ, you think he doesn't deserve to have a mother growing up? He's our brother!" Dean retorted.

"JJ will live without a mother, I did. They trust me to kill the devil and to save the world and that's exactly what I'm gonna do," I said.

"What about your daughter? _Our daughter?"_ He asked. I had already given this a lot of thought, I'd made my peace with it. It's why I'd left Charlie behind with the kids. I'd tried to leave Cole too, in order to protect her, but Cole being Cole, had steadfastly refused not to be a part of this fight.

"She'll have Charlie. All going well, she'll still have me too. This has to happen, I need to get to Lucifer, this is the only way."

"No. Not like this, you're not. I'm not gonna let you."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yeah."

This conversation was over. I slugged him with the butt of my gun and he dropped to the ground, unconscious, drawing attention from Beth who came rushing over.

"Hey! Hey woah woah, what's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing," I said hurriedly. "I changed my mind. I'm not sure we can risk taking him and he wouldn't stay behind."

"Dean, it's a little late, don't you think?" She asked.

"We'll hide him in the bushes, he'll be fine. You and I are going in the back, the others will take the lead." I wanted to leave her behind too, but I knew that I wouldn't. I needed her. I wasn't sure I'd have the courage to follow through with killing Sam without her there. I needed to see her, to be reminded of all I'd lost…

"I don't know, Dean…"

"It's our best shot. Lucifer won't see us coming. I need you with me Beth. You promised," I replied.

"Dean…"

"We're stronger together, you said that, I need you to help me with this Beth," my eyes beseeched hers and she relented, nodding.

"Yeah, okay, okay… just, leave someone with him, okay?"

* * *

 _ **An hour or so later  
Jackson County Sanitarium  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

It was full daylight when I woke. I was alone. The sound of gunfire in the distance drew my attention and I was instantly on my feet, running, and cursing Deano for the pounding head. The battle was clearly underway, and god knew who was dying as this pointless assault continued. I ran through an arch, there was no one around. Where was I going? I didn't know.

Then I saw lightning flash from behind a wall, a few hundred yards away. My gut told me to run. That hadn't been the weather, it was supernatural, and most likely angelic with it's blue zap. My heart was pounding, I stepped over dead bodies - ours and theirs - as I ran, oblivious to anything but the being I would find beyond that wall.

As I reached it, I realised we were in the gardens of the Sanitarium. Beauty surrounded us everywhere, ironic in all it's glory. I thought about the Garden of Eden, and the first fall of man. Would this be our day of redemption, among the roses?

I rounded the wall through a gateway, the wrought iron swinging open for me with ease. The scene before me was nothing short of a nightmare. The familiar tall figure of Sam, wearing a spotless white suit and standing over my future body, his foot pressed to my throat. Then my eyes dropped to Beth, against a tree with an angel sword rammed through her stomach. The Colt lay discarded out of reach of any of us.

"No!" I yelled as I ran forward. There was the audible sound of Deano's neck breaking as Sam's foot crushed him, and Beth's face broke, staring at him.

"No! Dean!"

I didn't know which of us she was yelling at, but I stopped short as my brother turned to face me. Only it wasn't my brother, he was gone, replaced by the cold, unfeeling eyes of a fallen angel who looked back at me.

"Oh. Hello, Dean," he said with a smile. "Aren't you a surprise. I mean, I was expecting more from the dynamic duo here… wasn't expecting another… _younger_ you."

There was a clap of thunder and a flash of blue lightning as he disappeared. I spun around, feeling a presence behind me and finding him there.

"You've come a long way to see this, haven't you?" He asked.

"Well, go ahead. Kill me," I said. Lucifer smiled.

"Kill you?" He asked, looking down at my dead corpse a few feet away. "Don't you think that would be a little...redundant?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry. It must be painful, speaking to me in this—shape. But it had to be your brother. It had to be." He reached for my shoulder, a familiar gesture, like he wanted to embrace me. I stepped instinctively back, inching myself toward Beth.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Dean. What do you think I'm going to do?" Lucifer asked.

"I don't know. Maybe deep-fry the planet?"

Lucifer stopped to examine a rose hanging from a creeper on a metallic arch.

"Why?" He asked. "Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing? Beautiful in a trillion different ways. The last perfect handiwork of God."

I didn't answer. I was too busy trying to think how I was going to get to the Colt and kill him myself.

"You ever hear the story of how I fell from grace?" He asked.

"Oh, good God, you're not gonna tell me a bedtime story, are you? My stomach's almost out of bile," I snarked.

His face sobered, and I knew that I was going to hear it whether I wanted to or not. "You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him. More than anything. And then God created…" He smirked, looking me up and down. "You. The little...hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you—to love you, more than him. And I said, 'Father, I can't.' I said, 'These human beings are flawed, murderous.'

"I rolled my eyes at him, and he raised an eyebrow. "It's true. I dared speak back to my Creator. My Father. Questioned his will. I went to the Mother, when he cast me out of Heaven, and she went to him, tried to intervene on my behalf. But she failed.

"And then… then when his little mudrat got lonely, as punishment, he took one of our mother's archangels… _my counterpart…_ and he… he ripped out her grace and tossed her to Adam like a plaything. Like she wasn't the ethereal warrior that she'd been created for. Like she was _nothing._ I wouldn't stand for it. I rebelled. And for that, God had Michael…" He paused, glancing over at Beth who was breathing shallowly, watching from the tree where she was pinned. "...and Sariel, cast me into Hell. Now, tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially, when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing, and how many of you blame me for it. "

Beth coughed up some blood, and I took a couple of steps closer to the Colt, using her as a distraction. "You know, for someone so self righteous, you sure didn't hesitate to kill her and open your doorway. You sacrificed your one true love, and for what?" She asked.

"Lilith… she was… she wasn't Layiel anymore. Not after Adam got through with her, not after all those centuries in Hell. She became corrupted, murderous herself, because her grace was gone. She willingly chose to die, so that I could avenge the wrong done to us," Lucifer said.

"There seems to be plenty of murderous angels around with their grace in tact…" Beth commented.

"The foolish Legion… like they could ever hope to stop me without you," he said, looking at me now. "I was my Father's greatest warrior. I asked only to be treated with respect. He case me aside, for you."

"You're not fooling me, you know that? With this sympathy-for-the-devil crap. I know what you are," I said.

"What am I?"

"You're the same thing, only bigger. The same brand of cockroach I've been squashing my whole life. An ugly, evil, belly-to-the-ground, supernatural piece of crap. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego."

He smiled at me. It was not the smile I knew from Sam, it was cold, calculating, and fake.

"I like you, Dean. I get what the other angels see in you. Goodbye. We'll meet again soon."

He turned to walk away, and I grabbed the Colt, pointing it at him. I looked at Beth, who had passed out and I felt something inside of me break. I pulled the trigger, on Lucifer, on my brother.

Nothing happened. The gun was empty.

"You better kill me now!" I yelled, throwing it on the ground.

Lucifer turned around, looking at me curiously.

"Pardon?"

"You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won't stop," I swore.

"I know you won't," he said with a slight nod of respect. "I know you won't say yes to Michael, either. And I know you won't kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up—here. I win. So, I win."

"You're wrong," I said.

"See you in five years, Dean." There was another crack of thunder, followed by lightning and then he was gone. I turned around to Beth, only to find Zachariah blocking the way and reaching out to me with two fingers which touched my forehead. Then we were gone.

We landed in the motel room we'd started in. I leaned against the kitchenette sink, and saw Beth fall against the bed, grasping at her stomach which now looked completely healed. Zachariah stood in front of me, smiling.

"Oh, well, if it isn't the ghost of Christmas screw you," I muttered, my eyes turning back to Beth.

"Enough. Dean, enough," he said. "You saw it, right? You saw what happens. You're the only person who can prove the devil wrong. Just say yes."

I pushed past him, helping Beth stand and checked her over, just to be sure she was unharmed. She seemed fine, but rattled, as she took my hand in hers. I squeezed it tight, holding it as I faced Zachariah.

"How do I know that this whole thing isn't one of your tricks? Huh? Some angel hocus-pocus?" I asked.

"The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die."

I thought about it. I'd done nothing _but_ think about it while we'd been on our way to the Sanitarium. Beth prayed, I planned, it was how our world worked. I looked over and her, seeing the trepidation in her eyes. She wasn't sure what I would do.

"Nah," I said finally, seeing her eyes fill with relief.

"'Nah'?" Zachariah asked incredulously. "You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?"

"Oh, I've learned a lesson, all right. Just not the one you wanted to teach."

"Well, I'll just have to teach it again! Because I got you now, boy, and I'm never letting you…"

Whoosh!

I felt my stomach lurch, and heard the flap of wings as a hand grabbed my shoulder and then, white light; piercing white light before finding myself on the side of the road, staring at Cas.

"That's pretty nice timing, Cas," I said as Beth laughed and hugged the angel.

"We had an appointment," he said and I chuckled, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Don't ever change."

"How did Zachariah find you?" Cas asked. Beth stepped back, and frowned.

"Long story. Let's just stay away from Jehovah's Witnesses from now on, okay?" She said, and Cas looked curiously at her.

I pulled out my phone, thinking about what I'd just said to Zachariah. There was no time like the present to right a wrong.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked.

"Something I should have done in the first place. Listening to you."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Bridge  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

The wait seemed to be forever, but finally I saw a Lincoln Continental making it's way toward us and I jumped off the hood of the Impala, watching anxiously as Sam climbed out of the driver's seat. Dean was already walking toward him, and Sam looked from him to me, slightly apprehensive.

"Sam," Dean said. I rolled my eyes at the typical macho behaviour, pushing past Dean and throwing myself into Sam's arms for a big bear hug.

"Sam!"

He gave me a little squeeze and then smiled as he let me go. "Hey, Beth. What's going on?"

To answer, Dean pulled the demon knife out of his jacket. I felt Sam stiffen beside me, looking at it nervously. Dean flipped it, holding it out handle first to our brother.

"If you're serious and you want back in...you should hang on to this. I'm sure you're rusty."

Sam took the knife, looking down at it. He nodded slightly, unable to bring his eyes up to Dean.

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm...whatever I need to be. But I was, uh—wrong."

"What made you change your mind?" Sam asked, finally looking up.

"Long story," Dean said. "The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know the family is all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human."

Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Really. Thank you. I won't let you down."

"Oh, I know it. I mean, you are the second-best hunter on the planet," Dean said.

"Hey!" I said in complaint.

Dean chuckled, winking at me. "Ah, third best… I wasn't counting the girls." I chuckled and playfully swatted at his arm. Sam nodded and smiled.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked.

Dean slipped his arm around my waist and looked at Sam. "We make our own future."

"Guess we have no choice," Sam conceded.

"I don't know guys," I said, looking out at the sun starting to sink below the horizon. "Seems to me, choice is kind of the point. Besides each other, it's the only thing we do have."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: "This is Now" by Hatebreed

* * *

Ahhhh, finally! I have had parts of this written for _years._ It's so awesome to finally pull it all together and publish the chapter.

You'll see through my dialogue we're starting to see the Angelic storyline I'm building bleed through a little. More will come in Gabriel's story _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ as the season progresses. I've had this storyline, along with Beth's background and abilities, in my head from the start. Only now am I getting to really kick it into gear. I'm quite pleased that the story I'd had planned will roughly (with a little tweaking) fit in with the Canon storyline, and not see too much of a change to the overall show. It's exciting!

* * *

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review, it's very much appreciated, and I do my best to reply when you do - especially if you leave questions. I'm glad people are still enjoying the series as much as I enjoy writing it. I have the plot sorted right through Season 11, so no fear, it's going to happen - I just need to balance it with my other commitments.

* * *

A shout-out and thank you to Earthhangel for her loan of Cole. If you want to see more of Cole's story with John, please pop on over to her story _How To Save A Life._ I have been blessed and flattered to have her write a crossover into the Dean and Beth universe. She very patiently puts up with my changes to storyline and canon story, fitting in with it in her own special way.

You haven't seen the last of Cole's story yet, so go check her out if you enjoyed this sneak peak at the fiery blonde (there's also snippets of Dean and Beth you don't see in this story). Earthhangel wrote some of the scenes with JJ in this chapter, it was a fun little peak at the youngest Winchester progeny, shotgunning his way through life.

Someone asked me recently about JJ and his impact on the Apocalypse storyline. We have already considered this, and it will be covered in due course :) There's a bit of a twist to the Canon story too, but all in good time :D It's a wild case of intrigue and betrayal as we start to interact with the angels, I hope you will enjoy the ride.

* * *

Up next _should be_ ** _Fallen Idols_** but I'm leaning toward making that into a flashback for our young couple - either pre-relationship, or super early relationship - and will likely post it out of timeline order, because I'll need to work the story out. I never thought much of the episode, but it should work for a fun, early-days angst-filled look at Dean and Beth.


	5. All of Me (Short Piece)

_What would I do without your smart mouth?  
_ _Drawing me in, and you kicking me out  
_ _You've got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down  
_ _What's going on in that beautiful mind  
_ _I'm on your magical mystery ride  
_ _And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright_

 _My head's under water  
_ _But I'm breathing fine  
_ _You're crazy and I'm out of my mind_

 _'Cause all of me  
_ _Loves all of you  
_ _Love your curves and all your edges  
_ _All your perfect imperfections_

 _Give your all to me  
_ _I'll give my all to you  
_ _You're my end and my beginning  
_ _Even when I lose I'm winning  
_ _Cause I give you all of me  
_ _And you give me all of you_

* * *

 **ALL OF ME**

 _ **7 months ago**_

* * *

 _ **3am  
**_ _ **Grand Rapids, Michigan  
**_ _ **Gaudiest Motel Room Ever**_

 **Dean's POV**

I couldn't stop touching her. Three hours into our midnight hot-tub rendezvous and I was still awake. Beth had fallen asleep an hour ago, sated and smiling. I left the light on, just so I could see her. Right now I couldn't believe she was in my arms after so long. Weeks, months for her, she'd been gone, and a part of me had started to think I might never see her again.

Soft, wavy locks fell across her face as she rolled over, wrapped her arm around my waist. I slipped my arm under her head and she murmured, wriggling in closer, her head coming to rest on my chest. I leaned down, kissed her forehead, and brushed the hair out of her face.

Perfect. She was perfect in every way. I traced circles along her bare hip, dancing my fingertips across the scars that were carved into her otherwise flawless skin. Scars told a story, I knew each and every one of hers. I'd been there for them, I'd caused some of them, and tonight I'd kissed them all, reminding her of the life we'd had together.

I made a decision in that moment, contemplated the timing, figured we could make it. With a happy sigh, I wriggled down until I was lying alongside her, she groaned softly in her sleep and rolled over. I moved with her, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her back against my body, pressing every inch of skin I could to her. I'd sleep now. Now that I had a plan, I could fall into oblivion.

* * *

 _ **7am  
**_ _ **Grand Rapids, Michigan  
**_ _ **Motel Room**_

 **Beth's POV**

It had been so long since I'd made love for hours on end. I smiled as I stretched like a cat, seeing the sunlight start to filter in through the curtains. I groaned, expected a hand to reach around and grasp a breast, tweak the nipple, pull me back into the love I'd received only hours ago. Nothing.

I paused, raising my head and looking around the room. The bed next to me was distressingly empty. I sat up, pulling the sheet around me in a false sense of modesty and frowned. "Dean?"

No reply.

My heart skipped a beat. Felt like it might stop. I looked around the room, blood rushed to my ears as I searched for a note. Nothing. "Dean?" I called out again, but he was definitely gone. Had last night just been a dream? I kicked back the sheet, crawling out of bed and grabbed a bathrobe from the chair nearby, sliding my arms into it and cinching it at the waist.

A light flashed from the table, three steps and I had my phone in my hand, punching in the passcode and scrolling for Dean. The door rattled as I was about to hit dial. I froze, reached for the gun in my bag as the door swung open.

"Hey beautiful, you're up already?" Dean walked in carrying several bags of pastries from the bakery across the road, and a couple of large coffees. He kicked the door closed behind him, and then placed the food and drink on the table next to him as I stared, taking it all in. Tears sprung to my eyes as I fought off the emotions flooding through me. Fear. Panic. Distress. Relief. I crossed the room in a heartbeat, throwing myself into his surprised arms.

"Hey!" He said, "you okay?" I nodded, burying my nose into his neck, breathing deeply of his scent, it reassured me: he was here. "I'm sorry," he said a moment later. "I should have left a note. I won't do that again."

* * *

 _ **12pm  
**_ _ **Lake Express Ferry  
**_ _ **Lake Michigan**_

 **Dean's POV**

"This is crazy, where are we going?" Beth asked, turning smiling eyes to look at me. We were standing on the deck of the Ferry, half way into the journey across Lake Michigan. I smiled, she had to suspect, of course she did. She wasn't stupid.

"You know," I laughed, smiling at her and handing her a muffin from the bakery I'd hit up earlier. I'd had to drive like a madman to get us here on time, but we'd made it with 15 minutes to spare. We'd never taken the ferry before, now that we were out here on the water, I was starting to understand why, I was feeling sick to my stomach with all the swaying - the sooner we got back on solid land, the better. It wasn't as bad as flying, but I'd had enough boats to last me a lifetime in the last week.

"Okay, so I think I know what you're up to, Mister Winchester, and you need to know it's not necessary," she said with a smile, soft hands sliding around my waist as I wrapped my arm around her. She was starting to shiver with the cold wind coming off the water, I guided us back downstairs to the enclosed seating area.

"Of course it's necessary, _Mrs Winchester,"_ I said, feeling strange even playing this out. But I'd asked her, three days ago, in the hospital after she'd been returned to me. We were going to do this - get out - and I the more I thought about it, there didn't seem a better time than on this day. I was going to make it worth remembering, I was going to do what she never expected me to do, and bring it right back to the sentimental.

Beth beamed at me with the use of her married name, and I chuckled. We'd not had much of a chance to indulge in married life - it might not be _me_ but I was going to make up for it now. I should have done it a long time ago.

We were downstairs, standing by the large glass windows and taking in the sights of a quickly approaching Milwaukee. "Ugh, Wisconsin," Beth muttered, I chuckled and bumped my shoulder against hers.

"Hey I have some good memories of Wisconsin," I said.

"Oh yeah?" Beth asked. "Like what?"

I gazed into those big brown eyes and rolled my eyes. "Seriously?" I asked. She nodded. "It's where I caught you in my arms, saved you from that _bitch demon_ Ruby. And Lake Manitoc? It's where I told you I loved you for the first time." I tucked loose hair behind her ear and smiled.

"Huh," Beth said with a smile. "I suppose those are pretty good things." I agreed, let her see it in my eyes, and leaned in to claim her lips like I had that day by the lake.

* * *

 _ **3pm  
Baraboo, Wisconsin  
Cemetary**_

 **Beth's POV**

"This is a bad idea, babe," Dean said again, but I had to do it.

"I need to. It's been… so long. I've avoided it, but… you said it yourself. This is where our life together began, Dean. I should at least pay my respects to that." For so many years, every year, two days after Dean's birthday, I mourned. My birthday sunrise tradition had turned to a sunset tradition, and we would find water - be it a river, lake, ocean - and I'd send my love to my dad. Not once, in thirteen years, had I actually come back here.

The reason was staring me in the face.

 _Here Lies **  
**_ **Patrick John O'Malley  
August 8, 1954 - January 26, 1996  
**His loving wife **  
Grace Sophia O'Malley (Sullivan)  
March 11, 1955 - May 31, 2006  
**And daughter  
 **Elizabeth Grace O'Malley  
August 3, 1980 - January 26, 1996**

"I didn't realise…" my words wandered off at the plaque.

"Jefferson took care of it," Dean said softly, his hand sliding up into my hair at the base of my neck. "He knew you'd want them to be together."

I choked back a sob. So much had happened in the last three years that I'd barely given a passing thought to what happened to mother's body after John, Cole and Jefferson had exorcised the demon from her. In my heart, she'd been dead a long time before that, and that's how it had stayed. Of course, they weren't _really_ here, they were in Heaven, I knew that in my heart. And just like Mary and John, they had been cremated - the true hunter's funeral. But I suspected Jefferson had buried her ashes here, just as we'd done for my dad.

"I've died so many times I can't count," I said quietly, staring at my name. Dean's arm was a comfort to me as he pulled me against him, pressed his lips to the side of my head.

"Too many times for my liking," he whispered.

"You too," I agreed, nodding. "Too much. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"Ditto," he said, turning me to face him. "This isn't going to be us, buried before our time, Beth. I promise. We're out, now. Screw the angels, the seals, I won't lose you again. I want this… but I want it to say we lived until we were 100 years old."

I smiled at him through teared up eyes. "Yes," I nodded.

* * *

 _ **8pm  
**_ _ **Blue Earth, Minnesota  
**_ _ **Chapel**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd made it. I felt nervous now that we were here. Beth was lighting the candles in the chapel as I wandered into the main house, looking for a bottle of wine, something we'd left behind all those months ago. I found one in the kitchen, unopened, something we'd bought on a whim for some other special occasion. I grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and hurried back to join Beth.

I walked up to the altar, it was clear of everything save a cross and several candles Beth had lit. Placing the glasses down, I walked quickly down to the front of the chapel where I'd asked her to wait. She looked jittery as I stepped into the little foyer.

"Hey," I smiled, receiving that beautiful quirky grin I loved so much in return.

"Hi," she said. "This is … well… how's the heart?" Her eyebrow pitched up in a smirk as I laughed heartily.

"Fine. Steady," I said. "Always has been with you."

"Schmuck," she countered. I smiled, thinking of how often I'd called her that.

"Yeah, well, don't tell Sam," I muttered, taking her hand. "You ready?"

Beth turned to look down the aisle toward the altar where a soft, golden glow illuminated the angel wings of the statue that had watched over us since we were kids. "Yeah," she nodded with a smile, squeezing my hand a little excitedly.

I walked her down the aisle, just like I had a year before. Dressed in our simple street clothes, holding hands, two people in love with nothing more than each other to lean on.

We reached the altar, turned to face each other. I don't think you could have wiped the smiles from our face.

"I love you," I said, reaching out a hand to cup her cheek. "Always have, always will." Beth smiled, tears welling in her eyes. "And I wouldn't be here without you, you know that. It was you, Beth, _your faith,_ that got me out of Hell."

"You came for me," she said in reply. "When I was trapped down there, in the Underworld, you came for me."

"I'll always come for you," I whispered, dropping my hand down to take her hands in mine. "Today, tomorrow and always."

"Today, tomorrow and always," she echoed, the vows we'd spoken to each other fresh in our minds from a year ago.

"The passage, that Jefferson read. Can you say it?" I asked. She knew it by heart, I had no doubt. It had been a favourite of her dad's, and she'd once told me it was the epitome of true love. Beth nodded, licked her lips nervously.

"Love is patient," she started. I stared into her eyes, locked on to the chocolate orbs I adored. "Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." Her breathing grew slightly faster as I felt her struggle to hold her emotions together. I squeezed her hands in encouragement, and she took a deep breath, smiled. "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. _Love never fails._ "

"Amen," I whispered, even though I never prayed. This was worth praying for.

"I love you," she whispered back, her voice finally cracking. With a smile, I pulled her into me, my lips seeking out the soft, fullness of her trembling mouth and lavishing it with all the care and fullness of my heart. I poured my heart and soul into that kiss, showing her in the best way, my way, how much she meant to me.

"Happy anniversary," I wished with a bump of my nose against hers.

"This was perfect, Dean, thank you," she replied, stepping in to wrap her arms around me. I tucked her head under my chin and held her tight as we swayed gently together.

"Well the night isn't over," I chuckled. After a moment I turned back to the wine and glasses on the altar, pouring us a glass. "To us."

"To us," she laughed.

"But wait, there's more, I've ordered pizza!" I grinned and she groaned with hunger.

"Oh thank god, I'm starving!"

Only my wife would be excited about pizza on an anniversary. I had a feeling that it was going to be a yearly tradition with us. I looked at her, realised that was one of the reasons I loved her so much. We simply fit. We always had.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this little snippet is _All of Me_ by John Legend. Love love love that song.

* * *

This was a randomly inspired piece after watching _My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2_. We don't always get to see Dean being a romantic fool, this was sweet, and I think totally him when it comes to Beth. I hope you enjoyed their first anniversary :) It was directly after he rescued her soul from the Underworld.

* * *

There was a review earlier asking about what happened to Beth in the Underworld. One scene had lent itself to saying she was raped by Hades. I had initially thought to go this way, which is why it was in there, and then I changed my mind because I think these two have been through enough trauma and after such a long hiatus I didn't want to get into more original pieces to cover the aftermath. I needed to get the story moving again. I will cover how the rape is interrupted in my story _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ in the future. I don't plan to just leave it hanging :)


	6. I Believe The Children Are Our Future

_AN: Holy crap this was like 60 pages when all was said and done! Sorry it took so long :D Hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

 _Hearts are worn in these dark ages  
You're not alone in this story's pages  
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying  
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in_

 _The world's on fire and  
It's more than I can handle  
I dive into the water  
(I try to bring my share)  
I try to bring more  
More than I can handle  
(Bring it to the table)  
Bring what I am able_

 _I watch the heavens and I find a calling  
Something I can do to change what's coming  
Stay close to me while the sky is falling  
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone_

* * *

 **I BELIEVE THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE**

* * *

 _ **1 week earlier  
**_ _ **Chapel  
**_ _ **El Dorado, Kansas**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _Haunted. There was no other way to describe it. I was being chased down by a future that hadn't even come to pass. I knelt on the hard, wooden floor beneath me and fingered the rosary in my hands. Comforted by the familiarity of the worn beads, they slipped through my fingertips as I recited yet another prayer for guidance._

 _Shadows played on the plain white walls, the perfect canvas for the spread wings of the Archangel Michael statue before me. I wasn't praying to him, I couldn't; if I did he would hear and he would come for Dean. I prayed to God, I prayed to Sariel and Castiel, because there was no one else to put my trust in. I prayed to Ezekiel but there was no reply, a part of me felt empty and saddened at his absence. Was he even alive?_

 _An ordinary person wouldn't have heard the opening and closing of the door, or the soft steps that crept up on me. I wrapped my free hand around the butt of my glock, deftly flipped the safety as I waited. I'd given no other sign that I'd heard their entrance, a civilian would not have even noticed my subtle shift to attention._

 _The hair on the back of my neck pricked up, I tensed, taking the rosary in a defensive grip. If it was anything that suffered from iron or salt, I was ready: fortunately the moon was all wrong for werewolves - and they weren't exactly known for hiding their approach to a victim._

 _I let out a long slow breath, prepared to move, my knees protested from the length of time I'd spent in one place on the hard floor. I ignored them, pushed the pain to the back of my mind. One...two… three. I sprung, landed on my feet and swung around. My gun pressed into the squared chest of my hunter._

" _You still got it," Dean said with a grin, I dropped the gun to my side with a scowl, clicked the safety back on._

" _I could have shot you."_

" _You knew it was me."_

" _I was 98 percent sure," I countered, my eyes narrowed even though he knew I wasn't angry._

" _I like those odds," he replied with a carefree shrug of his shoulders. He grinned, sought out my forgiveness, knowing it was already given._

 _I sighed, dropped back into the pew, leaned heavily against the back. "Just the same…" my voice trailed off, Dean nodded thoughtfully at the unspoken consequences of sneaking up on an armed person._

" _What's going on with you?" He took a seat next to me, turned concerned green eyes toward my face._

" _Nothing."_

 _It was the same reply I'd given him for the last few weeks. It wasn't true, but how did you tell someone you were running from an event that hadn't even happened?_

" _You're a terrible liar," Dean countered, reached a warm hand up to caress the side of my cheek, slid it under my hair and laced his fingers through my thick locks. It was a comforting warmth and I closed my eyes, allowed it to permeate the chill that had been my constant companion since we had returned from 2014._

 _I released a slow breath, contemplated. I'd rehearsed for weeks now, not sure how my fears would sound. I fought with my feelings, leaned into his touch._

" _I couldn't live if I broke you," I said finally._

" _Come again?"_

" _Us, Dean...you, and me. We've been doing this together for so long. Sam is right, it's dysfunctionally co-dependant. But I don't care. Because the alternative is worse. Seeing … you… and how you were because I died…" I knew it was irrational, that we would make every effort to ensure that the future we'd seen would not come to pass, but it held tight to me like an ivy vine climbing a redwood, slowly choking the life from it._

" _Beth, nothing is going to happen to you," Dean promised, there was a hesitation in his voice that made me look up. Although he tried quickly to hide it, I saw the flash of fear before he tucked it safely behind a mask of calm._

" _We don't know that," I whispered._

" _I do," he replied. "I know that nothing is going to take you from my side, not while I still draw breath. We know what is supposed to happen, we know how to stop it. Hell, we're already changing things by bringing Sam back in. We're tired, Beth, that's all. We need some rest."_

 _There was more, I didn't know how to voice it. I opened my mouth, no sound came out as I choked back a few breaths._

" _Hey…" Dean moved, strong arms placed me in his lap, wrapped around my waist. I buried my nose into his neck, took deep calming breaths. He had always smelled like Christmas morning, the scent instantly put me at ease as much as his words, "I've got you."_

 _I smiled, remembered how he'd said those exact words to me the day he and his father had saved me. "I know," I whispered._

* * *

 **Present Day  
Lexington, Nebraska  
**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

"So…" Sam flipped through the couple of news reports I'd printed off at the local internet cafe, absently chewed on his bagel and cream cheese. "What's with this job?"

I looked up from the laptop, it sat on the worn but clean surface of a crappy little booth we were crammed into. There was doubt in his eyes that I was starting to feel deep inside my very bones.

"Girl mauled to death in a locked house?" I asked with a tilt of my head. He nodded and I raised my hands up like claws, growling. "Rarrrr! It's our thing Sammy," my voice grew dismissive, "we've looked into less."

Dean had sold me on the case a few hours earlier, reflecting on how we needed something other than Lucifer and the Colt to distract us for a few days. I'd given in after he'd cornered me in the shower with soapy hands. Sam wasn't as easy to convince.

"Yeah, definitely, uh, but, uh, we got bigger problems, don't you think?"

"I'm sure the apocalypse'll still be there when we get back," Dean replied around a mouthful of pancake. He munched loudly, the sloshing sounds of the pastry mixing with hot maple syrup.

Sam seemed to carefully ponder his reply as Dean groaned his pleasure of the food before him. "Right, yeah, but I mean, if—if the Colt is really out there somewhere…"

Dean threw his fork down, the clatter of it hitting the porcelain plate echoed in the diner and stopped Sam mid-sentence. "Hey, we've been looking for three weeks, we got bupkis."

"Okay. But Dean...I mean, if we're gonna…" Sam lowered his voice, looked around to see if we'd drawn any attention, added "...ice the Devil."

Dean snapped. "This is what we're doing! Okay? End of discussion." His tone said it all, sounded a lot like John's had when we were teens. The effect wasn't lost on Sam who sat back, looked out the window. He fought with his emotions, then pulled himself together with a sigh. I felt Dean's posture relax beside me, his keen observation noted Sam's frustration.

"It's just that this is our first real case, back at it together. You know, I, I think we ought to ease into it, put the training wheels back on." Dean's tone was softer, placating. He wasn't trying to pick a fight, he was desperately trying to get Sam to see that we were in need of a change, to escape the Apocalypse for a while. While he'd been out for the last few months, we'd been in the thick of the fight, up to our armpits in blood, sweat and sometimes tears trying to find our way out of the hole. Sam had a vacation, we did not.

"So you think I need training wheels?" Sam's defensiveness sprung into full throttle. Dean sighed, I sipped on my latte and watched him try to avoid the train wreck.

"No, _we_. _We_ need training wheels," he emphasized. "You, me, Beth. As a team. Okay?" Sam looked dubious, but nodded. "Man, I really want this to be a fresh start, you know? For all of us," Dean said, his tone honest.

They stared at each other, unspoken understanding passing between the brothers. Sam nodded again. "Okay."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Motel  
Alliance, Nebraska**_

 **Beth's POV**

The headaches were worse after a long drive. Something about being cooped up in the car, the road racing underneath that highlighted things were not quite right upstairs. The local radio station had started to play polka diddies and I clicked it off with a groan. That wasn't going to help the full swing angel radio going off in my head. I stepped out of the car, stamped my feet to get the blood flowing again, and tried to shut off the ringing in my head.

It had started a week ago. In the past I'd been able to shut it down with meditation, pushing it to the back of my mind like white noise. It had never been enough to completely turn it off, but had given some respite. Now I felt like a fog horn was going off on a regular basis, and it was only getting worse as the days wore on. I pulled out my phone, entered the passcode and texted Castiel. I needed more Heavenly help than I wanted to admit.

I moved to put the phone back in my pocket, sunlight flashed off the screen and sent a dagger of pain oscillating through my skull. I flinched, Dean saw it as he returned to the car. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbed a hand across my temples. "Yeah, just a headache, nothing serious. You get a room?"

Dean dangled the key in front of my nose from his index finger. "Number 12."

"Great," I smiled. "I think I'll have a rest while you two check out the morgue."

"Now I am worried," Dean commented, eyes flicked to the back seat where Sam was sitting. Was he seeking backup from our brother who had his nose buried in his computer? He turned back to me, his expression open and concerned. I reached a hand up and placed it against his cheek, smiling at the love I saw etched into his candy apple eyes.

"It's nothing," I placated. "We've just been running on empty, you know? I might have a nap."

"You sure?"

"You won't be gone long, I'm fine." My comments didn't seem to convince Dean, who put his hand over mine, holding it to his face. "Seriously, I'm fine."

"We're not supposed to split up, remember?" Dean said quietly, a flash of something more than concern crossed his eyes. His words weighed heavily in the air between us, laden with fear of what may come.

Summoning up my amused look, I grinned and shook my head at him. "I don't think he meant we had to be attached at the hip 24/7, Dean." He chuckled, a glint of concern still buried in gold flecks inside his eyes.

"You have such cute hips though." His playboy facade was back in play, the worry shoved back behind the careful mask we'd perfected decades ago. I laughed, wrapping his hands around my waist and leaned forward to kiss his nose. Sam stuck his head out of the car window, cleared his throat."What are you two talking about? Are we going?"

Dean stared into my eyes, replied "yeah, Beth's staying here." "Really? Why?"

"I need a rest."

"Seriously?" Sam's voice pitched slightly higher than usual, giving away his surprise.

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. "Seriously. Geez guys, I don't think we need three FBI agents covering this. I'm going to have a long, hot shower." Dean contemplated this, a slightly amorous look climbing into his eyes. I kissed his cheek and nipped at his earlobe, earning a light groan. I could almost hear Sam's eyes roll to the back of his head before he pulled himself back in the car.

"When we get back we'll go out and get something to eat, nice little diner down the street," Dean promised, my stomach churned at the thought of food, the pounding behind my eyes seeming to get faster. My appetite had been rapidly on the decline since the headaches had started, and I wasn't sure I could keep down a coffee, let alone actual food, but I didn't want him to worry.

I smiled. "Sounds great, now go!" I slipped the key from his hand, grabbed my bag from the trunk and waved goodbye as they drove down the road toward the morgue.

"You haven't told them?" I wasn't surprised by the appearance of our own guardian angel. He'd landed as soon as the boys were gone from sight.

"No. They have enough to worry about." I walked the few yards across the parking lot to the downstairs motel room, turned the key in the lock. Castiel followed as I entered, tossing my bag at the foot of the closest bed. Light flooded the room as he flipped the switch by the door.

"What's happening?" Straight to the point.

"Nothing I've felt before," I could skip formalities too. "It's like… I don't know. Like I'm being sought out. It's not voices, like when I hear your line, I have been able to close that off. But this… it's like bells ripping through my head at the most unexpected time. I keep waiting for the sound to find me… it doesn't even make any sense."

The angel's brow furrowed. "The Bells of Heaven." I looked at him expectantly, questioned what he'd said. "Like echolocation. If you are looking for a soul, the bells can be sounded, and when it finds the soul, it returns a sound to the bells, giving the Legion a bearing. But I've never heard of it being used on a living being." Not for the first time I wondered how ignorant I was of all these Heavenly tools.

"Can it work?" Obviously someone, likely Zachariah, thought it could.

"In theory. But, your soul would have to be out of your body, you'd need to be close to dying," Castiel replied. I contemplated, glanced at the bed next to me.

"Or sleeping?"

Castiel nodded. "Maybe. Souls have been known to leave the body and travel when asleep. But that wouldn't lead them to your body."

"Maybe they've found a way to track the soul, back to my body?" I didn't enjoy the prospect of that in the slightest.

"This is bad," Castiel announced from a pinched expression.

I stifled a yawn, already tired from the long car ride to get here. "Cas, what am I going to do? I can't not sleep!"

"I need to speak with someone, get some advice. In the meantime, I suggest you stay awake as much as you can." I didn't have time to reply, he vanished right in front of my eyes. The small room, home to two doubles and a table with two chairs, started to close around me. I stepped back from the moving walls, stumbled over my bag, landed on the mattress. It was the only soft thing in the room. I cursed, a yawn broke my mouth. This wouldn't do. "Great…" I muttered under my breath. Suddenly I wished I'd gone with Dean and Sam.

* * *

 _ **Morgue  
Alliance, Nebraska  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

"So what's going on with Beth?"

I smirked, surprised Sam had been able to contain his curiosity in the ten minute drive across town. I was glad I wasn't the only one who had noticed Beth's offbeat behaviour.

"I don't know man, but she's hiding something." I took the steps up to the front of the morgue two at a time. Sam didn't even have to try to keep up, his long legs climbing with me steadily.

"She's been pretty jumpy since you guys went through… whatever it was." Sam still struggled with our story about 2014. None of us had a name for it. I'd been giving it some thought.

"Our shitty version of _Timecop_?" I asked, pulled the door open and waited for him to enter first.

Sam smiled, shook his head. "Yeah."

"Well, she found out she dies before we fix anything, can you blame her? I replied, followed him into the interior of the building. It was dark, grey, and cold. _Just like every other morgue in America._

"But, we're already changing history," Sam said, fell into step beside me as I led us down a corridor. "You guys brought me back in."

"Yeah, we did."

"That should be enough, right?" Sam looked anxiously at me, big brown puppy dog eyes imploring me to say yes. I couldn't give him any reassurances, I wasn't convinced myself.

"I don't know, dude," I muttered, shook my head. "All I know is we gotta keep fighting. We can't give in." I reached the reception desk, held my fake FBI badge up at the closest person who looked like they had some clout.

"Agents Page and Plant, FBI," I announced to a man in a white lab coat. He looked unintimidated by the badges, I noted this with the ease born of years reading people: doctor.

"Gentlemen," he nodded, pushed his glasses back on his nose. "What brings you by?"

"We need to see Amber Freer's body," Sam said.

"Really? What for?"

"The police report said something clawed through her skull?" The doctor frowned at us, took a step behind the desk toward a table with filing trays. He picked up a file from the tray marked for archiving.

"You didn't read the autopsy report that I emailed out this morning?" He asked, handed the thin manila folder to Sam.

"W-we had, uh, server issues," Sam replied, his answer seemed to satisfy the man. He turned, walked through a pair of swinging doors into the interior room. I didn't wait for an invitation, led the way with Sam close behind. The doctor flipped a latch on a nearby freezer and pulled out a slab, pulled back the sheet covering the young teenager's body.

"When they brought her in, we thought she was attacked by a wolf or something," he announced. We had wondered that too, although the moon phase was wrong for werewolves, and she wasn't missing her heart. Didn't mean there wasn't some other nasty creature with claws lurking in the shadows.

"Or something," I echoed, locked eyes with Sam.

"But we were wrong," the doctor continued, picked up a plastic bag from beside the body, dangled it before us. Sam leaned in, squinting at the small object encased inside. "Is that a….?"

"It's a press-on nail. We found it in her temporal lobe," the doctor supplied. Sam leaned away from the nail, eyes narrow, contemplative. I picked up on his body language.

"Is that even possible?" I asked. "Are you… you saying that she did this to herself?"

"Uh-huh," nodded the doctor. "She scratched her brains out. It'd take hours, and it'd hurt like hell, but sure—it's possible."

"How?"

"Pick your acronym—OCD, PCP. It all spells crazy," he replied. Sam pulled the sheet back a little further, examined the right hand which was missing a press-on nail from the middle finger. The side of her head looked like it had a bite taken out of it, thick dark hair matted with dried blood.

"My guess, some kind of phantom itch," commented the doctor. "I mean, an extreme case, but…"

Sam sounded skeptical. "Phantom itch?"

"Yup." The doctor covered Amber once more, slid the slab back into the freezer. The door clicked closed with a finality that send a shiver down my spine. "All it takes is someone talking about an itch—or thinking about one, even—and suddenly you can't stop scratching."

I fought it. The mere suggestion played with my subconscious. Sam spoke, "thanks, doc." He turned, scratched under his collar. I waited until they walked ahead of me before I gave in, scratched the itch behind my ear like I was a dog with fleas.

* * *

 _ **1 week earlier  
El dorado, Kansas  
Motel Gym**_

 **Dean's POV**

 _Beth had fallen asleep, finally. She'd complained about headaches again today, I was silently worried. The hotel we'd booked into was a little more high end, I wanted to give her somewhere comfortable to rest. I was taking advantage of the gym, working out my frustrations._

 _I clipped the punching bag, sent it rocking away from me. As it swung back to me I leaned in, hit it harder, and rocketed the bag away again. One, two, three. Repeat. I moved my feet into the mix, kicked, kneed, danced around the soft leather that had seen a lot of abuse over the years. Sweat beaded on my forehead, ran down my face and I swept it out of my face with the hem of my shirt, stopped for a breather._

 _Zachariah's experiment of sending us into the future, to see our fates, sat heavily with me. There were things Beth had experienced while there, I knew she was hiding. I felt like I had tiptoed around the issues since our return, and after I found her in the chapel this evening, I knew I was going to have to broach the topic of our future soon._

 _I seethed just below the surface. I threw a few more punches at the bag, cursed when my knuckles started to bruise. I leaned against the leather, panting._

" _Want me to spot?" Sam's voice sounded from the door and I glanced in his direction, seeing him move to the free weights._

" _Nah, I'm good," I might have agreed with Beth that he had to be brought in, that didn't mean I wasn't still angry at our situation, furious at Sam for what he and Ruby had done to us, I was barely holding it together._

" _You guys seem really wound up," Sam commented, taking a seat on the bench press. I sighed, grabbed the towel I'd tossed over another machine nearby, wiped my forehead again._

" _Been a rough few weeks."_

" _Which, you still haven't filled me in on," Sam pointed out. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch. This conversation was always going to happen. I had no idea what Beth had told him, but it sounded like it wasn't much._

 _I sighed, grabbed the bottle of water next to me and drank half of it in one go. With a gasp, I shook my head to clear it and then moved to sit near him._

" _Hard to get into really." I didn't want to, more to the point._

" _Try me."_

 _I glanced at my watch. I'd been gone almost thirty minutes, cursed myself. "Walk with me," I said, led the way out of the gym and back to the rooms upstairs. Sam had the adjoining room, I waved my hand for him to open the door to his room, moved to the doorway separating our rooms and slid it open._

 _Beth was fast asleep, curled up to my pillows. I smiled, turned back to Sam who was watching without comment._

" _She had died, man," I said. I cracked open a beer from the fridge, took a seat on an armchair. "Just like that, gone. And... " I could barely say it._

" _And?"_

 _I narrowed eyes at my little brother. "We had a child. A daughter."_

" _Wow," Sam's mouth fell open._

" _Yeah."_

" _What did Beth say?" I shook my head at the question._

" _What do you think? She fell apart. Spent a whole night there with the kid, and the other … me." I didn't go into how Cole had beat me at our drinking checkers game, that was just embarrassing. "He was… broken. I don't know. I can't even think about it."_

 _I filled him in: how in that future I'd never reconnected with him, and he'd given in to Lucifer and become his vessel. Sam denied that could ever happen. I couldn't fathom a time where he would agree to that, even with how angry I was at him, but I had seen it with my own eyes. I was quietly stewing on this knowledge._

" _I don't know what to say," I shrugged, finished my beer._

" _Have you guys talked about the baby?" Sam asked. My brow furrowed, his words weighed heavily on my heart._

" _Not yet." I knew it was coming, it had to, but I wasn't ready. I didn't know how to broach that. We'd given up our chance at a family when we went looking for Sam, when we agreed to help stop Lucifer. Our future had been put, permanently I feared, on hold the day Sam killed Lilith._

" _Well, don't you think you should?"_

" _And say what?" I stood, paced the room. "What am I supposed to tell her, Sammy? That we have a future? That we can plan for a child, maybe more? Look at our lives! I can't promise her I will pull through this, let alone live to have children."_

" _You know her," Sam pointed out. "You know she will be dwelling on this."_

 _I glanced back at the room, the door I'd closed after I checked in on her. "I know." I suspected it was the other topic weighing so heavily on her mind, when I found her in the chapel tonight. I hadn't the heart to ask then, I felt my pulse start to race thinking about it now._

" _Well, how do you feel about it?" Sam asked. I turned, sank down on the end of his bed with a loaded sigh._

" _I hate this, Sam. Heaven, Hell, Michael, Lucifer, running from angels and demons, monsters. How did Dad even do it? I don't want to do that to our kids, man. Beth deserves better, she should have a house, somewhere to put down roots, like her parents with her. Something we didn't get." I fell silent, looking down at my hands, the near empty beer bottle dangled from my fingers._

" _Staying in one place didn't keep her any safer than it did with us moving around," Sam pointed out. He had a point, if anything it meant that when the demons came for her mother, they were easier to find._

" _Yeah, but it's better than what we had."_

" _You remember what it was like? Having a home?" Sam's voice was quiet._

" _Yeah," I nodded. "I do, and you didn't get that. Yet, that's all you wanted - it's inside us, whether we had it or not."_

" _Yeah…" Sam agreed. He stared at the floor, lost in thought. I knew he had to be thinking about Lilith, and everything that had transpired since then. He knew that he'd pulled us back in, and look where it got us. We'd been happy. "Dean…"_

" _Don't say it," I cut in. "We can't change what happened."_

" _But…"_

" _Sam. Don't," I stood, shook my head as I put the now empty bottle in the trash. "I will deal with Beth, like I always do. We just need to focus on the future, and killing Lucifer, so I can give her that future. Okay?"_

" _Yeah, okay," Sam conceded. I looked at him, noted that defeated slump to his shoulders. I knew he was beating himself up over this, really wanted to redeem himself for jump starting the Apocalypse. He wasn't alone in carrying that guilt._

" _We'll fix this, Sam, I owe it to all of us." I said. Sam looked up at me, frowned. I wanted to tell him… to voice what Alistair had told Beth and I, that I was responsible for starting this shindig, but I heard a cry next door and ran._

 _Beth was wide eyed, sitting in the middle of the bed when I entered. She'd left the light on for me, I climbed straight across the comforter, took her in my arms._

" _What's wrong?"_

" _Bells," she muttered. "And… and I don't know. Something was looking for me, is looking for me, Dean."_

" _Shhh, shhh, it's just a dream," I rubbed her back, reveled in the way she pressed her body into mine, buried her face in the crook of my neck. Sam's shadow fell across the bed, and I looked up at him. "No one is going to hurt you, we're here, both of us, we've got you."_

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
**_ _ **Victim's Scene of Death**_

 **Dean's POV**

Sam took point, leading the way up the narrow pathway to the house where we'd parked. "So, Amber was babysitting a kid here. The parents came home, found her on the couch dead."

I grimaced, glanced around the yard. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Soon enough we were in the living room with the parents, John and Francine. Sam took the armchair, I was restless so stayed standing, hovered behind the couch. John glanced behind at me, Sam distracted him. "Okay. Okay, now, some of these questions might seem a bit odd, but please just bear with me," he said. I saw Francine nod, Sam continued. "Have you noticed any cold spots in the house?"

"Uh...no," John replied, shook his head.

"Okay, uh, what about strange smells?" Sam asked. I looked around a corner and found a kid sitting in the kitchen.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" He asked. I figured this had to be the kid Amber had been babysitting.

"Don't know yet," I replied, stepping up to him. "It's, uh, Jimmy, right?" Nod. "So, Amber was your babysitter?" Another affirmative, this time voiced. I nodded, thought back to the days when it had just been Dad, Sam and I on the road. "Yeah, most of my babysitters sucked." I chuckled. "Especially Ms. Chancey. She only cared about two things: Dynasty and bedtime."

The kid looked at me blankly and I sighed, instinctively looking around for Beth. She got my humour, she would have laughed. I cleared my throat, looked back at the kid. "Did you, uh, you see anything strange that night?"

Jimmy shifted uncomfortably, glanced at his feet. "No, sir."

"You sure about that?"

"I—I would tell you if I knew something," he insisted. I tossed him my best disbelieving look and he blanched. "I promise. One hundred percent. Cross my heart." I couldn't believe this kid, he lied worse than Sam. I looked over my shoulder, knew this was a bit risky, decided to do it anyway.

"Well, Jimmy, I, uh...I happen to know you're lying," I said. Jimmy shook his head. "I'm not."

I leaned down, placed my hand on his shoulder and applied a small amount of pressure.

"We gonna start talking truth, or are you and me gonna have to take a little trip downtown?" That got him.

* * *

 _ **Short While Later  
Nursing Home  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

I'd been pacing the motel room when the call had come across the police scanner. A short walk later, I was sporting a slurpee sized coffee from the 7-11 across the street, and a snappy pants suit to match the fake badge I flashed at the doctor when I arrived.

"Officer," he acknowledged, looked curiously at the cup.

"Long day," I shrugged. "What happened?"

The doctor gestured nowhere in particular. "Guy got electrocuted."

I sipped on my coffee, looked at him curiously. "Any idea how?" I already knew that had happened, this guy wasn't giving me anything.

"Eh, maybe a loose wire or a piece of equipment shorted out. So far, we haven't found anything," the doctor replied.

"Witnesses?" I asked.

The Doc nodded, tilted his head toward a room behind me. "Yeah, guy in there - Mr. Stanley." I glanced back at the door, an old man sat in a chair in the room, looking out the window ."He says he saw it, but he's not making a lick of sense. Senile."

I nodded, contemplated how any of us would sound if sat down in front of an actual psychologist, and decided I'd be the judge of senility. "Thanks."

He nodded and left, I turned back to the room contemplated the absurdity that was my life, and wondered why I was looking into an electrocution. Why was this any different to any other death in town? Something had told me _investigate_ … I took another sip of coffee. Okay, so it could have been a random car accident and I would have thought about coming for a look, but the " _this is an odd one,"_ statement from the police had caught my attention.

"Hey," Dean's voice sounded behind me, I spun around and smiled at the sight of Sam and him coming through the double doors. "What are you doing here?" He rested his hand against my lower back and I leaned back into his touch. "I thought you were resting?"

"Got restless. Heard the call on the scanner, thought I'd check it out," I said. "What did you guys find out at the morgue?"

"Oh, weird one," Dean said, holding up a packet of itching powder. "Kid said he put this on the babysitter's hairbrush." I frowned, took the packet and turned it over in my hands. "Girl scratched her own brains out."

"But… there's no way itching powder could do that… it's just ground-up maple seeds," I said, looking up at the brothers.

"If you have any other theories, I'm open to 'em," Dean said. I took a sip of my coffee, licked my lips, and shook my head. Sam watched me, a crease to his forehead. He dropped an inquisitive look to the super sized coffee cup in my hand.

"Uh, bit overkill on the coffee, don't you think?"

I looked at the cup, contemplated the consequences of falling asleep, and returned his look with a shrug of my shoulders. "Yeah, no. Not really."

"That's like the mother of all coffees," Dean chimed in. I narrowed my eyes at the them both, well aware that it wouldn't take long for them to start with the nagging about my health.

"I'll explain later, we got more important things to look into," I inclined my head toward the room. "We got a witness."

Sam followed my line of sight, squinting at Mr Stanley. "Yeah?" I nodded.

"He saw the whole thing," I said. Dean cleared his throat beside me, grasped my arm.

"Sam, go talk to him," he ordered. For a moment it looked like Sam was going to argue, just for the sake of not wanting to be told what to do, but the body language obviously told him to can it. Sam nodded and walked away as Dean pulled on my arm, led me to the foyer.

"What's going on with you? Since when do you drink coffee like a fish?" He asked, the concern evident in his eyes.

I bit my lip, shook my head. "Dean…"

"No, enough, no more protecting me," he said. I looked at him, narrowed my eyes, thought about arguing. "We need to talk, Beth. We've been dancing around this discussion since… well since we got back, and I don't think for a moment that what you told me last week was the whole story. I just don't want to push you. But… you gotta talk to me sugarpie."

I felt hot, salty tears prick at my eyes, sipped at my coffee once more and then lamented that it was empty. I sighed.

"Zachariah is looking for you," I spat out. Dean smirked, looked at me with slight incredulity.

"Well babe, that ain't news."

"Yeah, well they have a new, torturous, technique," I commented.

"Torture? Huh?" His expression flickered between concern and anger, hands gripped both my arms as he looked into my eyes. I swallowed hard. My lips were so dry, I felt as if I wanted to throw up all the coffee I'd just swallowed. I hadn't slept in about twenty-four hours with the overnight drive, and it was definitely starting to creep up on me. For the last week, I'd been lucky to sleep a few hours a night - frankly I was surprised Zachariah hadn't already found us. "Beth…" Dean's warning tone brought me back to the present.

"Yeah, okay. Okay," I nodded. I reached down, put the coffee cup on the table next to us. I straightened and slid my hands along his hips, grasped the fabric of his suit jacket, wished it was his t-shirt. "For the last week I've been hearing these… bells… in my head. Cas said it's a way they can find lost souls in Heaven."

"That's where these headaches are coming from?" I smiled, nodded. I had forgotten how closely he watched me, even when I was trying to hide what was going on with me. It shouldn't be a surprise that he'd been in tune with the pain I'd been suffering.

"It's like… constant. And now… we're lucky they haven't found us already. But Cas said I shouldn't sleep, just to be sure." Dean's hands tightened on my arms, gave away his thoughts.

"To be sure of what?" He asked, unhappy.

"That they can't track my soul," I said. He swallowed, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Which they can do … if you sleep?"

"Or die. So yeah, probably shouldn't do that either," I said with a chuckle. My attempt at humour fell on deaf ears.

"Haha. Funny," Dean deadpanned. I blinked, the tears I'd fought earlier returned. I shook my head to clear them.

"I'm so tired, Dean," I almost whimpered. He expelled a frustrated breath, pulled me into his arms.

"I know. God dammit. Nothing gets easier, does it?" He asked, squeezed me tight against him. "Where is Cas?"

"Looking into it," I murmured. I breathed deeply of his scent and it made me sleepy. I smiled again, wrapped my arms tighter around him. "I just have to, stay awake until then." I suppressed a deep yawn as I closed my eyes; all I wanted to do right now was lie down in Dean's arms and let the rest of the world fade away.

"Great…" Dean muttered. I felt his posture change, and looked over my shoulder as Sam approached.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, though, we're going to need more of an explanation about these bell things…" Dean nodded, I pulled away reluctantly, picked up my empty coffee cup and looked for a trash can. I needed to keep moving, as soon as stopped I was going to want to sleep. A coffee stop was probably going to be in order, too.

"Bell things?" Sam asked, as I wandered a few feet over to toss my cup away.

"From Heaven," Dean explained.

Sam's confusion was clear, he raised an eyebrow, commented "Riiiiiiight…."

"Freaking angels," Dean cursed as I rejoined them. Sam looked at me questioningly, I ignored it for the moment, glanced behind him at the older man who was still in his room, now staring out the window with a slump to his shoulders.

"Um, Mr. Stanley? What did he say?" I asked.

Sam nodded, glancing back as I had. "It was just a joke. He didn't know it would really work."

"What would work?" Dean asked.

Sam looked at us, then raised his hand. I squinted, then opened my eyes widely at what he was holding.

"Is that… is that a joy buzzer?"

* * *

 _ **Short Time Later  
Motel Room**_

 **Dean's POV**

I felt an inordinate amount of pleasure as I donned a pair of goggles, followed by protective gloves. I adjusted the goggles to fit, and then picked up the joy buzzer. It practically oozed power, I stared at it for a moment before I turned to look at Sam and Beth. Sam was filled with energy at my preparations, and shifted from foot to foot. Beth yawned, but smiled at me when I grinned in her direction. "You guys ready?"

Sam nodded, lifted his own pair of goggles to his eyes at the same time Beth slipped hers over her head. "Hit it, Mr Wizard," Sam said with a grin and I pulled down the dark visor to protect my face.

I turned to the large ham we'd picked up at the grocery store, contemplated what I was about to do, and then slammed my palm into the fleshy uncooked roast. I was at once glad for the precautions we'd taken, two aluminum foil pans on top of pot holders on the table. The joy buzzer worked! Electricity flowed from my hand into the ham, cringed at the sound of the meat that sizzled against my palm.

After a moment I pulled my hand back. The entire roast, in a matter of seconds, had gone from raw to perfectly cooked - crackle and all. Beth let out a gasp next to me, lowering her goggles. I flipped up the visor, pleased at my handiwork. "That'll do, pig."

"What the hell?" Beth's thoughts mirrored those of all of us. I removed my goggles, still staring at the fully cooked ham. Suddenly I felt hungry.

"That crap isn't supposed to work," Sam stated, mind still on the task. I looked at the buzzer, still on my hand.

"This thing doesn't even have batteries," I pointed out. I removed it carefully, putting it on the table, and then took my gloves off.

"So...so, what? Are—are we looking at cursed objects?" Sam asked.

"Sounds good," I said. I walked over to the kitchenette, searched around in the drawer for a moment, found a knife and fork. When I sliced open the ham, it was tender, juicy, and perfect. "Maybe there's a powerful witch in town," I mused as I took a bit out of the slice of ham. "Is there any link between the, uh, the joy buzzer and the itching powder?"

Beth shook her head, as if she was coming out of a daze, frowned at the question. "Uh, one was made in China, the other Mexico, but they were both bought from the same store." I sliced off another piece of ham, contemplated her information.

"Hmmm." I chewed thoughtfully, turned to see Beth watching me, the exhaustion from earlier now replaced with a hunger.

"We're gonna need bread," she said, and I let out a small exclamation of joy.

"Yes! Bread! And butter," I said. Sam shook his head with a smile as I started to slice a few pieces of ham off the bone for Beth. Without notice a figure landed next to me, and I jumped at the same time as a surprised yelp escaped me.

"Jesus…" I cursed, looked at Castiel now besides me. "A little notice?"

Castiel was staring at the roast on the table. "Is that, ham?"

"Eyes off my pig, man," I warned him, he was looking a little too hungry for me. Beth I could trust with my ham, but Cas? He might disappear with it, and that would just not work.

"Cas, why are you here?" Sam asked. He seemed to be the only one who was not at ease by the angel having simply appeared.

"I've come for Beth," Castiel announced, and I was instantly on alert.

"Wait, whoa whoa whoa, what?" I asked, my eyes met with hers, and she seemed resigned to the angel already.

"She needs to come with me," Cas replied.

"Where are we going?" Beth asked.

"And why?!" Sam chimed in. I realised for the moment that I'd barely had a moment to wrap my head around this Bells of Heaven nonsense, let alone fill our little brother in on anything. Somehow it hadn't seemed the right time when we were picking out a pig to roast.

"Yeah, what he said," I added, pointing to Sam, "and I'm coming with you."

"You're… you're going? What is going on here?" Sam questioned.

"The angels are messing with Beth, pricks," I replied. His expression was confused. I'm sure mine was too. I really had no idea what was going on, I just knew that I wasn't about to let Beth run off into the sunset with these pricks. Sure, Cas seemed okay, but the others? I wasn't so trusting.

"There is a way to stop it, but we must go before …" Castiel's facial expression froze, he tilted his head sideways and appeared to be listening to something beyond our hearing range. Within seconds his posture changed from relaxed to tense, he rippled displeasure, and then looked at me. "I have to go," he said without explanation, turned to Beth. "I'll be back. _Stay awake."_

"Huh," I said, a little speechless at the drama that had just unfolded. Angels. I was never going to get used to all their popping in and out, and never really giving us any direct, useful information.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Sam threw his hands up in the air, clearly annoyed.

"Come on," Beth said. Her tone and expression settled into a fierce determination. "I need to keep moving, let's check out this magic store, I'll fill you in on the way."

* * *

 _ **Conjurarium  
Alliance, Nebraska  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

The gags and gimmicks store was exactly as you might expect it to be. Filled with cheap trick toys, costumes, and other assorted things… like rubber chickens. The door chimed as we walked in, and there was a burst of laughter that echoed out before it chimed again.

I looked over a range of dog turds. Everything from your basic run-of-the-mill fake doo-doo, to turd in a box - your gift for the person who has everything, I supposed - down to the _Stepped in Doo_ joke where you attached the fake dog doo to your shoe and walked around to get reactions.

I scrunched up my nose at the mere thought of it. I'd dealt with some pretty gross things in my life - training for vampire hunting, by hacking the heads off dead pigs, being one of them - yet this made me sick more than all the blood and gore.

"Beth!" I heard Dean chortle, glanced over to see him holding a whoopee cushion in the air and laughing silently. His eyes filled with humour, for that split second I almost forgot about everything else. I tossed him a grin and he walked over to the counter, obviously intending to make a purchase.

When the owner of the store - a weedy looking man in a striped pinsuit wearing round spectacles - entered, I joined Dean by the row of rubber chickens.

"Welcome to the Conjurarium, sanctum of magic and mystery," he said with a flourish of his hands.

"Are you the owner?" I asked.

"Yep."

"You sold any itching powder or joy buzzers lately?" Dean asked, looking around the shop.

The man thought about it for a few seconds and nodded. "Yeah, a grand total of one of each. They aren't exactly big-ticket items. Look, you kids here to buy something or what?" The message was clear, he wasn't giving information if we weren't buying. Dean pulled some cash out of his wallet and held up the whoopee cushion. The owner accepted the cash as I continued with the questioning.

"So, you get many customers?"

He shrugged. "Kids come in. They don't buy much, but they're more than happy to break stuff. These days, all they care about are their iPhones and those kissing-vampire movies. The whole thing makes me just…" his face turned a little red, flushed from frustration, and Dean cut in.

"Angry?"

The man paused, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I am angry. This shop has been my life for twenty years, and now it's wasting away to nothing."

"Which is why you hate them," Dean supplied with a nod.

"I suppose," the answer was a little more hesitant.

"You wish there was something you could do about it," Dean continued.

"Yeah, I guess I do," came the reply, the voice of the little man started to pitch slightly.

"So you're taking revenge," Dean said, grabbing a rubber chicken off the display. He slapped it down on the counter with a thwacking noise, and then pulled out the joy buzzer from earlier. "With this!" The man watched wide-eyed and confused as Dean slammed his hand down on the chicken. The buzzer emitted a loud crackle of electricity and popped as the rubber under Dean's hand started to melt.

I watched the man yelp and leap back from the desk, eyes only on the chicken that was now melted rubber on the countertop. "Oh! No!" He cried out and then he started making gurgling noises in the back of his throat, gulped for air before sitting down on the floor, hard.

Sam had walked over to us, glanced over my shoulder at the man now whimpering on the floor. "Yeah," he said. "something tells me this guy is not a powerful witch."

"Sorry, sorry," Dean said, his tone slightly remorseful as he held up an apologetic hand to the man, and then practically ran for the door, Sam and I not long behind him.

* * *

 _ **Later That Evening  
**_ _ **Motel Room**_

 **Dean's POV**

I sat at the laptop, stared at the search on the screen. "Bells of Heaven, Heavenly Bells, Soul Searchers…" I muttered the terms as I read them, mind intent on discovering something, anything on what the angels were subjecting Beth to. There wasn't much on it, this didn't surprise me at all. I'd phoned Jefferson and Bobby, neither of them knew anything about it, but they were going through the motions. Meanwhile, Beth was guzzling coffee and _No Doz_ like it was going out of fashion.

Sam looked up when I spoke, curiosity on his face. "You know, we do already have a case…"

"I know, I know," I muttered. How could I forget? Everything we did was a case. If it wasn't about monsters, demons or angels, it wasn't happening. I frowned back at the screen. I'd been so focused on Sam, and the colt, and even this latest mission that I hadn't stopped to think about Beth: what she was going through since Zachariah's joyride. "How's that going, by the way?" I asked, looking pointedly over at Sam.

Sam shook his head, went back to his laptop, suitably chastised. He hadn't made any further progress on the case and we both knew it. I glanced at my phone, noting the time. _30 minutes._ I turned back to the computer, tried to push the nervous feeling out of my mind.

 _Haunted eyes looked at me, full of rage and despair. "She didn't make it," Cole said._ I swallowed, stood and moved to the fridge where I'd left a six-pack earlier. The beer didn't act as much of a distraction as it ran down my throat, but I kept drinking anyway. I dropped the bottle to the table next to me, moved to look out the window at the dark parking lot.

"Dude," Sam said. "What's wrong with you?"

I froze, glanced at him uncomfortably. Sam watched me expectantly. I felt my brow furrow without even trying to frown. "She's…" I felt the heat rise into my cheeks, just the thought of what I was going to say.

"She?"

"She's been gone like forty minutes," I said lamely.

Sam took only a second to realise I was talking about Beth, leaned back in his chair and raised his arms up to lock his hands behind his head. He jerked one eyebrow upwards, a little smirk to his mouth joining it.. "Are you serious?"

"I'm going to go check on her," I said, giving in to the urge I'd been feeling for the last half hour. Sam scoffed, watched as I pulled on my jacket and walked to the door.

"Wow, I thought you had control issues, but geez Dean, this is a little…"

"Nuts?" I cut him off, rested my hand on the door as I looked at him. "Yeah. I can get on board with that. But you're not the one with a freaking legion of angels after you." I paused, considered the statement as Sam raised his eyebrow in amusement.

"Well, you got one angel after you," I conceded.

"Lucifer."

I sighed. "Have I mentioned our lives suck?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded. I turned to open the door, mind on the chapel three blocks down where I knew Beth was praying. It would take me less than five minutes to walk there. "Seriously, Dean!" Sam's voice was amused, but concerned at the same time. I let out a frustrated breath, spun to face him.

"Look, you didn't see what it was like, man. The future. It wasn't a cakewalk," I said. I felt the fear grip at my heart: unspoken. I could not let it get too much of a hold on me, but I had started to think that I was losing that battle.

"Well, we're together, that's already rewriting history," Sam said, citing a similar thing I'd said to Beth, and him, not a week ago.

"Yeah. Maybe. But that doesn't mean something isn't going to happen to Beth," I said softly.

"You think?" Sam asked. He put his laptop aside, concern crossed his features as he swung his legs off the bed and sat up straighter.

"She didn't die because you were gone, Sammy. It was my fault. I wasn't with her," I confessed.

"You can't be with her every waking moment," he reasoned. I shook my head.

"Why not? We practically had been until…" My voice faltered. It was my fault. All of it.

"Until you went to Hell," Sam finished for me. I nodded, fell silent.

My mind was in overdrive. Our lives, mine, Beth's, it had all come back to Sam: to Dad's order that we look after him. I'd been ready to let him go, when he died, I'd almost felt relief - but not Beth. She always did take orders better than me. And from that moment in time, our lives had been irreparable, everything had started to fall apart. Beth's deal. Mine to trump hers and keep her safe. If we'd just let him die… even if Jake had managed to get the gates open, to free Lucifer, or whatever the plan had been…

Sam had always been his vessel.

"What?" Sam asked, sensed a change in my expression.

"Nothing," I said, not even certain of what I'd just realised. I needed to talk to Beth.

"No, you just had some kind of …. epiphany." Sam pressed. I struggled to look at him.

"Nah, it's nothing."

"C'mon, Dean, no more secrets." The rawness in his voice stopped me. I hovered near the door, glanced at the clock on the bedside table. _Forty-five minutes._ Five more minutes, I could handle that.

"Just funny how life is sometimes," I said. "And Dad. You know, he was so hard on us, so determined that we protect you, and then he comes out with this total bullshit about …" _About you._

"About?"

I'd never thought I would go through with it. "Nothing. Just stupid stuff," I said.

"Dean…he told you to kill me if I turned evil," Sam said. I shook my head.

"He told me to do a lot of things." That much was true.

"You disobeyed that order, though." Did he think I didn't know that? Right now it was the only thing at the front of my mind. If I'd killed him, if I'd obeyed orders. If Beth and I had done as we were told… would any of this be happening?

"Yeah, well, turns out he wasn't always right," I muttered.

"Are you sure about that?" Sam asked, his eyes watched me, wide, wavering as he spoke his fear, the belief that he thought he was unworthy to be here. I frowned at him, he pressed, "if Beth hadn't made that deal, well… none of this would be happening."

"You don't know that," I said.

Sam rose to his feet, took a step toward me with his hand outstretched hesitantly. "Yes I do. You think I haven't thought about that? I'd be dead. Lilith would be alive. Lucifer would still be in his cage."

"Yellow Eyes would have just found someone else to get him out." It's what I told myself. "Someone else would have killed her." Of course… I was ignoring the fact that if I hadn't been in Hell, the first seal wouldn't have fallen - that was too fresh in my mind to think through at any great length. The guilt I felt, knowing how weak I'd been, how if I'd just been stronger….

"But someone else wouldn't be Lucifer's true vessel." Sam broke through my thoughts. Again, I had no words. Sam continued, "I never believed in destiny, but I don't know Dean, this is looking kind of … predestined."

"Yeah…" I nodded, having started to wonder it myself.

"What if Lucifer was right? What if we are always going to end up in that place?"

"We won't," I retorted. I was nothing, if not stubborn.

"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked. I felt the frustration and anger at him rise in my chest, sick of the questions, the doubts. I was always reassuring him, making him believe that he was a part of this family, that we didn't hold him accountable. I repeated the words I'd said to Beth, and Bobby, countless times before.

"Because I'm not losing you, Sammy, okay? You or Beth! We don't give in to these bastards, we make our own choices. That's how we roll."

"What if you're wrong?"

"I'm not." I glanced at the clock again. _Fifty-five minutes._

"Dean…" Sam's face clearly showed his concern. Worry, doubt, fear slipped across his features as I watched him. It would take me three minutes to sprint to the church. I sighed at Sam, silently willed him to pull it together, start to fight for our future, not just give in like we were puppets on a stage.

"I'm going to check on Beth. I don't know what's going on with this whole Church Bells thing, but I do know this much, these angels aren't giving up without a fight. But neither am I, dammit." _Three minutes. If I left now, I'd be there, and she'd have been gone an hour. An hour was okay, right? An hour didn't scream insecurity, fear, dysfunction?_

What did it matter if it did? She got it. She understood me. I mustered up a smile for Sam, gestured at the laptop. "Just, maybe take a look online for me about these bells? You always were a better researcher."

He relaxed, eyes softened slightly. He nodded as I turned to the door. _1 hour._ I'd waited long enough.

* * *

 _ **St Gabriel Catholic Church  
**_ _ **Alliance, Nebraska**_

 **Beth's POV**

I was almost done for the evening. I'd lost my momentum a few times, falling into deep, wordless contemplation as I sought out answers that were beyond speech. Sometimes, in the darkest moments, I couldn't find anything in all the languages I knew to reflect how I was feeling. My father had always told me that prayer was not the words we said, but the feeling it generated; he said prayer didn't have to be in words, we could think, feel, project our emotions to God, and He would translate it into something He knew.

All I knew as I came to the end of my rosary rounds was that I'd begged for intervention. I'd laid out the pain and hurt I was feeling, expressed the confusion as to how we were to move forward, and finally sent up silent prayer and gratitude to the angels who were watching over us. Dean joined me some time in the middle of this, his strong, quiet presence was a relief to have. Long gone were the days when I had been self conscious about him joining me during prayer.

As I crossed myself, kissed the crucifix at the end of my rosary, and then the pentacle, I rose off my knees with a grunt, lamented that I was starting to feel the cold more as I got older.

"Hey," Dean said, when I finally looked at him with a smile.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

"Just checking on you. Making sure you're not falling asleep on the job," he answered with a chuckle. There was truth to what he was saying, however. He'd reacted to the news better than I had expected, but I hadn't missed the jittery way he'd watch me, worry.

"I'm too scared to even close my eyes," I groaned as he slid his arm around my shoulders. I resisted leaning my head against his shoulder; it would be a disaster, inviting me to give into the soft, all encompassing darkness too easily.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. " Any word from Cas yet?"

"No. Nothing." Dean shifted slightly in the pew, adjusted for the hardness of the wooden seat, and then looked at the stained glass windows with various scenes of angels and humans.

"What is this all about anyway?" He asked.

"Zachariah, I suppose. He can't be too pleased about us getting away," I picked up a bible from the pew in front, absently flipped through it. There was a comfort to the thin, soft pages running across my fingers.

"It doesn't matter, he's not going to change my mind," Dean was resolute and I chuckled. There was nothing more foolhardy than thinking you could change Dean's mind when it was made up. I started to wonder whether Zachariah really knew us at all.

"He must think he can," I murmured, and placed the bible gentle back on the seat in front of me.

Dean expelled a short breath, nodded. "Yeah, that's the scary part."

As worried, and tired, as I was, Dean sounded even more fragile in that moment. It was times like now that one of us picked up the other, pulled them through doubt. I glanced sideways, Dean was staring up at the stained glass behind the altar - at the image of Gabriel coming to Mary and revealing she was to bear a special child - he seemed lost, for the first time on this case he showed signs of uncertainty.

"We'll be okay," I breathed softly. I reached out and covered his hand with my own, squeezing softly. Dean remained silent, unmoving, and that worried me even more. "We _will_ be okay, Dean."

"Will we?" He choked out. Licking his lips, he frowned and then cleared his throat. "I dunno Beth. I mean, we have Sam with us now, sure, but he was talking some serious sense back at the motel just now. About destiny, and how if he'd just stayed dead…"

"You think we should have just let him die?" It was something I'd thought about, suspected he had too, but never voiced.

"No!" Dean said, an almost automatic denial crossing his face. I stared at him, waited for the truth to show in his eyes. He looked over at me, his face a mix of emotion. "Yes?" He continued. "I don't know."

"Dean?" I twisted around, looked at him with open questioning.

"Well, I don't know Beth. You can't deny, we wouldn't be in this position if we had." I pressed my hands together, pushed them one against the other as I considered my answer.

"I don't know. It seems like no matter what we do, we are still heading toward the same destination. If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else," I commented.

"Maybe. Sam said something similar. Like maybe, it doesn't matter what we do, we will end up in the same situation as we were?" He finished with a sigh, "with Lucifer winning."

"I don't believe that," I said with a short shake of my head.

"I don't know…" Dean's voice was low and unconvinced.

"You believe in destiny?" I scoffed. Now I'd heard it all. The great Dean Winchester professing to believe that our life was laid out in a nice, well paved straight line for us to walk.

"No," he was quick to deny.

"Sounds like you might, the way you're talking," I pushed. I leaned an elbow on the pew in front, buried my hand in my hair as I supported my head.

"I think we make our own destiny," Dean replied. " I do believe in one thing though."

"Oh?" I looked at him curiously.

"Us. We were always going to end up together. Back then, now, in the future." It was enough to make me smile. I'd considered the theory of destiny, many times in our life. Quietly I believed there was something magical about our relationship, something that seemed to push us together even when everything around us was trying to pull us apart. We were bonded. The Chinese called it yuanfen, I called it fate.

"Well now, that is something," I finally replied when he turned vulnerable eyes to me. "I know Sam thinks you're tough and just another cookie cut from the John Winchester mould, but I know you. I know you secretly love the silly chick flicks, and I still wouldn't pick you for believing in destiny."

"The more I start to remember, about how we met, and kept meeting - even with our memories wiped by Cas… I still owe him a broken nose for that, too. It's just… hard not to believe," he said with a shrug. Dean was nothing if not logical about some things.

"Yeah…" I nodded in agreement.

"What if Lucifer is right?" I tensed at the subject change.

"About Sam?"

"Yeah. What if after all this, we can't protect him?" He asked.

I'd been asking myself that same question. If we were on a predestined route together, then it seemed by default that Sam was on one that seemed to land him constantly in hot water.

"I don't know," I answered after a moment of contemplation.

"This sucks," he breathed, leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees, returned his gaze to the stain glass window. I followed his line of sight with my own, it was hard to see the glass with the darkness outside, but an orange streetlight flickered beyond the picture, illuminating the hand of Gabriel as he held it up in greeting to Mary, his face covered in shadow.

"I'm so tired…" I murmured as I felt my eyes start to droop.

"Come on, let's walk," Dean said. He rose to his feet and took my hand in his own, with a tug, he raised me to my feet. He slipped his hands around my waist, holding firmly as he kissed my forehead then smiled. "That'll keep you awake. We'll see what the hell is open in this backwater town. Maybe we'll find some pie."

* * *

 _ **The Next Day  
**_ _ **Hospital**_

 **Beth's POV**

Morning saw us return to the hospital. I stifled a yawn as I listened to Dean talking to the nurse a short distance away, stared in the doorway at the latest victim: Peter Darby. He had been visited during the night by… something. A nurse offered him a glass with a straw, but the cantankerous man waved her away. Sam had been questioning the man, took a few notes and then turned back to the door, flashed me an incredulous look. This was going to be an interesting one.

Dean finished up his conversation. "Well, I, uh, appreciate that, Nurse…" I turned to see him lean in and read the woman's name tag. "Fremont."

"Please… call me Jen," she smiled.

"Oh," Dean said with a grin. "Jen it is."

I covered my mouth again, trying not to look bored as I yawned and contemplated where to find the nearest source of caffeine.

"How do you put up with him like that?" Sam asked as he watched Dean's antics from behind me.

"Huh?" I asked, glanced over my shoulder at him. "That? That's nothing. You should have seen us in our early years, we had this competition, who could get the most numbers in a night."

"You two are weird. And you know, you're not exactly old and grey now…" Sam pointed out.

"Feels like it," I said with another yawn. "We stopped the game after we got married. Didn't feel right."

"Poor Dean, that must have cramped his style," Sam said with a smirk. I smiled, watched Dean flash the nurse a cheeky wink.

"Actually… it was his idea," I informed Sam. Dean turned, spotted us and smiled, clapping once as he walked over.

"Huh…" Sam said.

"What's up with Toothless? Cavity creeps get ahold of him?" He asked, looking at Sam, who seemed to be slightly shocked, thinking about my disclosure about his brother. "Well?" Dean prompted.

"Uh...Yeah. Close. He wrote up a description," Sam said after a few moments. He flipped the cover open on his notebook and read from a page.

"Five foot ten, three hundred fifty pounds, wings, and a pink tutu. Said it was the tooth fairy," he answered.

"So he's obviously whacked out on painkillers," Dean said. He looked up as Nurse Fremont came back from where she'd been down the hall, and handed him a coffee with a bright smile. Dean chuckled, nodded _professionally_ at her and as soon as she was out of sight, handed me the coffee.

"Thought you might need this," he said, impressed with himself. I chuckled, leaned in to kiss his cheek as I accepted the coffee.

"My hero," I whispered as Sam gaped. "And maybe you're right about the painkiller overdose, but whatever it was got past locked doors and windows without triggering the alarm." I took a sip of the coffee and licked my lips - she'd gone overkill on the sugar, perfect.

"Come on," Dean scoffed, "tooth fairy?"

"And it left thirty-two quarters underneath his pillow. One for each tooth," Sam added. Dean nodded as he took in this new information.

"Well, I will see your crazy and raise you some," he said. "There's a couple of kids upstairs with stomach ulcers—say they got it from mixing Pop Rocks and Coke. Another guy...his face...froze that way."

"What way?" I asked curiously.

Dean looked one way and then the other, and reached his fingers up to pull out the sides of his mouth, he simultaneously crossed his eyes and held a disgusting face that looked like it was an extra out of a Jim Carrey movie.

"He, uh, held it too long, and it—it stuck. They're flying in a plastic surgeon," he said. He poked at his cheeks and wiggled his chin to make sure all was back to normal.

"So, if you add all that up…" Sam spoke, and then hesitated. Dean raised his eyebrows, questioning. "I got nothing," he added. With a sigh, Sam started to walk down the hallway past us. Dean turned around to walk alongside him, slipped his arm around my waist protectively as we moved.

"I thought sea-monkeys were real," Dean confessed as we reached the lobby.

"They are. They're brine shrimp," Sam said.

"No, no, no, I mean like in the ads. You know, like the sea-monkey wife cooks the pot roast for the sea-monkey husband, and the sea-monkey kids play with the dog in a sea-monkey castle—real. I mean, I was six, but I believed it," Dean said.

"Okay…" Sam shrugged. I thought through the different cases, all unrelated, yet a common thread running through them all.

"Point is…" I interrupted Dean's line of thought, grabbed his arm. He stopped to look at me, Sam too.

"Maybe that's the connection," I said. "The tooth fairy, the Pop Rocks and Coke, the joy buzzer that shocks you—they're all lies that kids believe." Dean considered my theory, playing all the scenarios and then nodded.

"And now they're coming true," he suggested. I nodded. "Okay, so whatever's doing this is—is reshaping reality. It has the powers of a god. Or…"

Sam rolled his eyes, speaking what we were all thinking. "...of a trickster."

"Yeah, with the sense of humor of a nine-year-old," Dean said.

"Or you," Sam pointed out. Dean looked offended, as Sam started to walk out the door and down the steps.

"Did you hear that?" He asked. I took another sip of my coffee and giggled.

"Mhmmm, I heard him," I said. I took his hand and pulled him toward the door. "He's right!"

* * *

 _ **Motel Room**_

 _ **Dean's POV**_

Back at the room, I finished off my sandwich with a couple of pickles, looking at it with awe. This was going to be the best sandwich yet. I picked it up, cradled it lovingly in my hands, and then opened my mouth to wrap my lips around the crust.

"Dude, seriously?" I sighed as the door opened and Sam walked in. "Still with the ham?"

I chomped on the mouthful of sandwich I had just bitten off, spat my words out around it. "We don't have a fwidge." Sam rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him, then put the map down in front of me on the table.

"Well, I found something," he said. I looked up to see if Beth was paying attention. She'd been lounging on the bed, reading a book when I'd started making the sandwich… when I spotted her, I dropped my food on the plate in front of me, moved to the bed.

"Babe?" I reached out, shook her by the arm. "Hey sugarpie, look alive sunshine." It killed me to watch her like this, I hoped Cas came up with a solution too. As soon as he did, I was going to take her away for a long weekend, and we were both going to get some sleep.

Beth blinked, groaned softly as I woke her. She looked past me with bleary eyes. "Oh, hey Sam," she said and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Maybe you should get some sleep?" Sam suggested with a worried look.

"Can't. Too dangerous," she said with a yawn.

"Well, it's got to be better than this," he replied. I looked down at her, felt the concern start to eat at me like bad angina.

"He might have a point," I said.

"No… need to keep them away from you," Beth replied. She stretched her arms above her head. I watched appreciatively at the way her breasts bounced slightly when she moved, licked my lips as she met my eyes and realised what was running through my mind.

"You good?" She asked with a knowing smile, pulling herself up by holding onto my shoulder.

"Oh yeah, I'm good. Are you good?" I asked, and slid my hands around her waist as she wandered toward the table.

"Mmm, I'm good," she laughed. She pulled me with her as she moved. "What did you find Sammy?"

Sam shook his head at us both, then spread the map out across the surface. He pointed to one of half a dozen red X's drawn on the paper.

"Um, tooth fairy attack was here, Pop Rocks and Coke was here, then you've got itching powder, face freeze, and joy buzzer—all located within a two-mile radius," he said.

"So, we got a blast zone of weird, and inside, fantasy becomes reality," I said as I looked over Beth's shoulder.

"Looks like," Sam nodded.

"And what's the A-bomb at its center?" I asked.

"Four acres of farmland...and a house," Sam replied.

Beth pulled away from me and wandered off to the bathroom. "Our motel isn't in that circle, by any chance?" She called out from the open door and I ran a quick check, nodded.

"Yeah. Why?"

There was a strain in her voice which I at first put down to the fatigue, but when she didn't reply, it instantly had me on alert. "Beth?" I turned to the bathroom to see her standing just inside the doorway, her shirt pulled up over her stomach. It looked distended… a lot like… I swallowed, hurried to the door frame.

"Is that…?" I could barely voice it. Beth looked up to meet my eyes in the mirror.

"Well, unless it's all that ham we've been eating…" She joked. "I uh… I dunno."

"Damn," I said softly. "What is that supposed to even mean? That's not like an urban legend?"

"Errr, no, but lots of people believe you can get pregnant from unprotected sex?" Beth asked, frowning slightly.

"Ugh, you guys… really? I was gone like two hours!" Sam said, threw his hands up in the air.

"We got bored," I said with a grin. "And I had to keep her awake somehow." Beth chuckled, dropped her shirt back down over her stomach and took a deep breath.

"So okay? Someone believes you get pregnant every time you have unprotected sex?" I contemplated the thought: it wouldn't have been the first time someone had tried to get their kid to abstain from sex.

"You know you can go blind from that, too." Sam interjected.

"No," I said with a shake of my head, "that's if you uh… you know…" I moved my hand luridly back and forth in the air like I was masturbating, causing Sam to crinkle his nose at me.

"We gotta check this out," Beth said. My eyes dropped down to the little baby bump showing under her top, this was so surreal.

"You think this is permanent?" I asked, Beth paled slightly at the suggestion, her hands moving instinctively to her stomach.

"I mean, in 2014…." My thoughts were cut short by Sam.

"Your daughter? You think?" He asked. I inclined my head affirmatively. The timeline was right, if we were talking about having a daughter who would be the same age as Sophia had been in 2014, then, it could be any time. I reached out and cupped Beth's cheek gently, attempted to gauge her thoughts. "This is messed up, you know that right?" I brushed my thumb along her cheek bone and mustered an encouraging smile.

She placed her warm hand over mine, her eyes closed for a moment before she opened them to look at me wryly. "One crisis at a time. Let's go check out this farm." I had to admit, she was handling this rather well - I supposed that said a lot about how tired she was, maybe she had no extra energy to spare.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

We changed into our suits; me with more difficulty than the boys. I cinched a belt lower than my stomach to keep my slacks up, and paired it with a shirt of Sam's to cover up the baby bump that was now more than evident. Hidden in the bathroom, I slipped my jacket over to cover the obvious fact that the shirt was too big for me, and caught my reflection in the mirror. A moment of deja vu hit, overwhelmed me with the feeling of combined fear and excited elation from years ago, when I'd carried our son.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd slept. I knew if I stayed at the motel it was inevitable, I had to remain awake. I focused my attention on Cas, then dropped it. He'd warned me not to use _angel radio_ too much to contact him, that he didn't know who might be listening. It was not likely, but if anyone in the Castiel angel line was recruited by Zachariah, then they would have as much access to what I said to Cas, as he would.

Instead I whipped out my phone, sent him another text message asking for an update, then slipped it into my pocket as I fought to rein in my runaway feelings. Fatigue, and now hormones I suspected, were going to wreak havoc with me. I took a deep breath, placed my hands on my abdomen and closed my eyes for a moment - remembering it all. What it had felt like to have a tiny life inside of me, to feel him kick, move. Only the good memories, I carefully kept the bad ones tucked in their corner of my mind, untouched.

There was a gentle knock at the door and I looked up to see Dean poke his head around, looking worried. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Maybe you should stay here?" He asked carefully, and opened the door enough for him to slip into the room. I bit my lip as he wound his arms around me, hands coming to naturally rest on my stomach like they belonged there.

"And miss this?" I asked. "This might be the trickster again, imagine if we caught him? Dean, I might be pregnant, but I'm not an invalid."

Dean's hands tightened against me and he glanced down in the mirror, shook his head. "Yeah, that don't get any easier to hear," he commented.

I chuckled, leaned back against him,as I dropped my head to his shoulder. "You know you wanted to talk about making a baby," I reminded him, not that I thought he'd remembered that particular conversation from our foray into the future.

"Sugarpie, I _always_ want to talk about making a baby," he murmured as he kissed the back of my neck. "It's so much fun…"

His amorous hands wandered slightly North and I giggled at him, took his hands in mine and pulled his arms tighter around me. He sobered and met my eyes in the mirror.

"Man, that conversation was kind of funny, you were so _drunk."_ I said with a quirky smile.

"Huh," he said thoughtfully, eyes dropped down to my stomach.

I smiled sadly, thought about our lost baby boy, "come on, let's go," I said, I pulled away and led us out of the bathroom.

Emotions carefully tucked behind the poker face John had taught us to have, I set my mind to deal with the cause of what was going on, and face our individual circumstances later. Work. When all else failed we worked, it got us through the dark days.

It wasn't until we reached the farmhouse that Dean recovered from his silent contemplation. We exited the Impala, and he hurried to walk next to me.

"I'm not opposed to it, you know," he said. I stopped walking, ran a hand through my hair as I let out a long breath. Sam started to walk up the steps, ignoring us.

"You seemed a bit uncertain back there, Dean," I replied.

"Was not. I was just surprised. Like… I thought we'd kind of plan it, or something," he said with a frown. I laughed, took a few backwards steps toward the porch and threw my hands up in the air.

"Well, surprise!"

Dean looked troubled as he quickened his pace, hitting the porch at the same time as me. Sam bent to pick the lock to the house, but the handle turned and he hurriedly stood, pocketed his picks. A young boy with light brown, shaggy hair - not unlike Sam as a young boy I thought - peered out at us, asked "can I help you?"

"Hi. Uh, what's your name?" Sam recovered, smiling at the kid. I paused, found that I'd been half expecting to see _the Trickster_ just standing in the doorway. It was a bit of a long shot.

"Who wants to know?" He said suspiciously. Sam glanced over at us, a little surprised at the attitude coming off the boy.

"The, uh…" Dean felt inside his jacket for his badge, pulled it out and held it up. "FBI." Sam followed suit, same as I.

"Let me see that," the boy said, took Dean's badge and examined it carefully. He seemed satisfied with what he saw, and handed it back to Dean. I pocketed my badge again as the boy looked at us sternly.

"So, what, you guys don't knock?" He asked. _Wow, who was this kid?_

"Are your parents home?" I asked, curious as to why no one had come to the door by now.

"They work."

"Well, you mind if we ask you a few questions, maybe take a look around the house?" Sam questioned. The boy looked uncertain for the first time, hesitated in the threshold of the door.

"I don't know…"

"Come on. You can trust us. We're the authorities," Dean cut in, held up the badge again. The boy didn't appear all that reassured, glanced between Sam, Dean and myself. Finally he nodded and led the way down a hallway to the kitchen.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

The kid had attitude! Reminded me a little of myself at that age. I bristled a little under the scrutiny and hoped this was the last of it, and the boy would start helping us out now. As we reached the kitchen, I looked around. It was an out dated old farmhouse, linoleum flooring that had seen better days, tired worn benches, and a small stove tucked at the end. There was a pot of soup boiling on a front burner, the kid walked over and turned it off.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"It's called soup," the boy replied. "You heat it up and you eat it." He took it off the stove, and poured it into a bowl nearby. I had a flashback of years where I'd done that for me and Sam.

Sam chuckled. "Right. I, I know. It's just, um...I used to make my own dinner, too, when I was a kid."

"Well, I'm not a kid," was the boy's reply. Beth had moved closer to the fridge, which I took notice of when she bent down to look at a drawing.

"Right. No, I, I know. Um…" Sam was struggling, so he stuck his hand in the air, introducing himself. "I'm Robert, by the way."

The boy accepted the hand, shook it firmly. "Jesse."

"Jesse, nice to meet you."

Beth glanced back at me, inclined her head, and I took a couple of steps to see what had caught her attention. If it were possible, I probably would have felt my eyes pop out of my head. There on the fridge was a hand drawn picture of a bearded man with pink wings and a tutu. Beth pulled it off the fridge, tossing me a knowing look. "Jesse, did you draw this?" She asked, received a nod in reply.

"It's the tooth fairy."

"That's what you think the tooth fairy looks like, huh?" I mused.

"Yeah," Jesse nodded. "My dad told me about him."

I locked eyes with Sam, raised my eyebrow in curiosity. "Huh."

"What, didn't your dad tell you about the tooth fairy?" Jesse asked, crossing his arms at me.

"My Dad?" I asked with a laugh. "No, my dad told me different stories."

"Well, the tooth fairy isn't a story," he insisted.

Beth knelt down to Jesse's level, looking at him. "What do you know about itching powder, Jesse?"

"That stuff will make you scratch your brains out."

"Pop Rocks and Coke?" I asked.

"You mix them, and you'll end up in the hospital. Everyone knows that," he rolled his eyes at me.

Beth snickered and I could see her looking for the right words. "What about when two people love each other, and they are… cuddling?"

"You mean sex?" Jesse asked, and Beth looked a little shocked, standing up.

"How old are you?" I asked, flabbergasted. He couldn't be more than ten!

"Old enough to know that you get pregnant if you have sex without a condom," Jesse replied, pointing to Beth. "Happened to my cousin Amanda, her parents were real angry."

I wanted to laugh at Beth's expression which was classically amused. I pulled the joy buzzer out of my pocket and brandished it before Jesse. He went pale and gulped. "You shouldn't have that," he said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It can electrocute you," Jesse replied. I shook my head.

"Actually, it can't. It's just a wind-up toy. It's totally harmless. Doesn't even have batteries," I told him. Jesse's eyes widened, but he was listening.

"So it can't shock you?" He asked.

"Nope. Not at all. I swear." I said. I had an idea forming in my mind, it was kind of risky, but the logic made sense.

"Oh okay," he replied with a shrug.

"I mean, all it does is just shake in your hand. It's kind of lame. See?" I reached out a shoved the buzzer against Sam's chest. I felt him stiffen underneath me and Beth gasped in shock. There was a buzz, but nothing like the snap and hiss of before. The look Sammy tossed me was murderous, man it was so worth it.

By the time we left, Sam was fuming. He'd kept it all in check while we gave Jesse a few reality checks, but as we walked down the steps from the front porch, I could practically hear him yelling at me through his eyes.

"Dude, what the Hell?!" Sam finally snapped as we got to the car. I stopped and looked across the roof of the car at him.

"I had a hunch, I went with it," I said.

"You risked my ass on a hunch?" Sam asked.

"You're fine," I replied, waving my hand in the air. "Besides, now we know who's turning this town into Willy Wonka's worst nightmare."

"The kid," Sam said, exchanging a look with Beth, who nodded.

"Yeah. Everything Jesse believes comes true. He thinks the tooth fairy looks like Belushi, uh, joy buzzers really shock people, boom, that's what happens…"

"But convince him the joy buzzers don't actually work, and they go from killing machines back into crap toys…" Sam finished my thoughts out loud.

"And pregnant, to not," Beth suddenly announced, sliding her hands down over her flat stomach. I gaped, not having given that a second thought. I grimaced.

"Kid just learned about birth control, I did the world a favour," I quipped and Sam rolled his eyes. Beth looked a little conflicted at the comment, wiped a hand across her face which was starting to look more than fatigued - she had dark rings under her eyes, and a permanent half-frown to her mouth.

"He probably doesn't even know he's doing it," Sam commented. We all turned to look back at the house and I saw the curtains part. Jesse's face peered out at us and I threw him a smile, waved my hand in a friendly manner.

"How is he doing it?" Beth asked. That was the million dollar question.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

I'd stripped off as soon as we got back to the motel. My hands were trembling, and I wasn't sure it was to do with the weariness of not having slept. I felt as if I'd been ripped open, had my innards all pulled out, then shoved back in again. Every time I thought about our trip to the future, of the little girl that I'd held in my arms - _my little girl -_ I wanted to cry. The only thing I could do was keep moving. If I stopped for a moment I was going to break down, and that seemed worse than the growing realisation that deep down, I wanted to be pregnant again. I wanted that baby, but more importantly, _that life_ which came with it: a house, a husband, a family. I also didn't want to think about it, because it was out of reach.

I clicked on the TV, flipping through the channels until our favourite Spanish soap opera came on. Wriggling into sweatpants and a hoodie, I paced, barefoot across the scratchy rug on the floor listening to the show. Dean lounged on the bed, still in his suit, minus the jacket, reading. I paused for a moment, watching him, and heard a sad sigh escape my mouth before I realised it was even happening. Dean heard it too, looked up from his magazine.

He watched me standing there, looking at him with what had to be a conflicted expression, asked, "You want to talk about it?" I shook my head in reply. Secretly I was hoping he'd push me on it. "Come on, you've been moody since the kid's house," he said.

"It's nothing, I'm tired," I said softly. It was a fine dance between us. Sometimes it really was what it was, fatigue or hormones or plain boredom - sometimes it was more. The trick was knowing when to push, fortunately Dean was rather adept at getting things out of me when I couldn't find the words. He frowned, and put the magazine aside, patting the bed beside him.

"Then come lie down."

"I'll fall asleep!" I said, this was a legitimate fear. I felt like a rubber band stretched too thin. Any moment I might snap.

Dean grinned, waggled his eyebrows at me. "I can think of something to keep you awake…" That wasn't what I was expecting from him in that moment. I froze, crossing my arms over my chest with a slight frown.

"Aha!" He said triumphantly, rising to his knees on the bed and moving to the end, next to me. "There is something bothering you. The pregnancy?"

"Oh, please," I scoffed, looking away from him because I didn't want him to see it in my eyes.

"Hey, come on. I know you Beth. You're not the only one who has given this a lot of thought. Maybe we should have that sober conversation?" His voice was gentle, vulnerable, and so were his eyes when I looked back at him. I cupped his cheek, biting my lower lip.

"You do remember?"

"Yeah, of course," he gruffly, circling his hands around my waist.

"Why did act like you didn't?" I asked.

"I didn't want you to freak out, or feel like … I don't know…"

My breath caught in my throat as I thought about what we were saying. Were we really having this conversation? We'd tried so many months ago to get out, only to be dragged back in. Now we had Sam - and Lucifer - to worry about.

"We could, you know," he said quietly. I bit my lip and shook my head.

"We're in the middle of an apocalypse," I breathed.

"We're _always_ in the middle of something," he said.

'Yeah, but we're talking about bringing a baby into the world, Dean."

"You don't think we deserve that?" He asked, his hands tightened on my waist and I closed my eyes, nodding silently.

"Of course we do. But… I think it's a bit irresponsible, don't you?" I felt his shoulders shrug, and opened my eyes to an uncertain gaze.

"I don't know, maybe," he answered softly.

His eyes were so green, flecked through with tiny dots of gold and brown, I stared into them as if I were staring into my own soul. "What about taking care of Sam?" I asked finally. Dean licked his lips, blinked a few times as he thought about his answer.

"I want you to be happy."

"I am happy."

"But you were happier… in Minnesota," he pointed out, and he knew he had me. I sighed, chewing on my lower lip as I fought off tears of sadness, and just plain fatigue.

"Dean…"

He reached a hand up to caress my cheek. "I was too," he whispered.

The motel door opened, and Dean sighed at the interruption as Sam walked in, still dressed in his suit. He ignored the embrace we were in, and dropped a bag of food on the table.

"So, I dug up what I could on Jesse Turner. It's not much. Uh, B student, won last year's Pinewood Derby. But get this. Jesse was adopted. His birth records are sealed."

Dean threw me an apologetic look and stood up off the bed, kissing my forehead. "So you unsealed them, and?"

Sam smiled that Dean seemed to have such faith in him. "There's no father listed, but Jesse's biological mom is named Julia Wright. She lives in Elk Creek, on the other side of the state." I knew immediately that we would be going to investigate. I slipped out of the sweatpants as Sam and Dean discussed the fastest route there, and by the time I was changed Sam was out the door.

"This conversation isn't over," Dean promised as he held the door for me. I turned to kiss his cheek, smiled in resignation a him.

* * *

 _ **Julia Wright's House  
**_ _ **Elk Creek, Nebraska**_

 **Dean's POV**

Julia's house was a no-go zone if ever I'd seen one. Rough around the edges, the house was so run down it almost looked abandoned. A _no trespassing_ sign hung on a rusty gate which was practically falling off a fence overgrown with vines. I gave the gate a shove, it moved with a protesting sound but let us pass. Beth was behind me, Sam having opted to stay in the car. We didn't know what this woman was going to say or do when we told her about Jesse, and a nice, innocent couple seemed less threatening than three of us.

As we stepped on to the sagging porch, Beth nodded to the two deadbolts. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, pressed on the doorbell.

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested," came a woman's voice from the other side of the door. I looked at Beth who shrugged, reached for her badge.

"We're not salesmen," I announced. "Agents Page, and Jones, FBI." I held my badge up to the peephole and waited.

"Put your badge in the slot. Your partner's, too." It was rare that anyone asked us to do that, but I was confident she wouldn't be able to tell a fake from the real thing. I took Beth's badge from her, pushed them both through the mail slot. Another wait, and then the unmistakeable sound of locks clattering, and the door creaked open. A woman with dirty blonde hair handed back the badges, looking warily at us. "What do you want?"

Beth put her badge away, I followed suit, thinking about how we were going to broach the subject of Jesse. "We just had a few questions," Beth started. "About your son."

"I don't have a son," she denied, her face unreadable.

"He was born March 29th, 1998, in Omaha," Beth said to the expressionless face. "You put him up for adoption?"

A flicker of emotion crossed the woman's face. "What about him?" She asked finally.

"We were just wondering, um, was it...was it a normal pregnancy?" Beth asked. Julia said nothing.

"Was there anything strange?" I pressed. Without warning Julia slammed the door shut.

"Stay away from me!" She screamed. I hadn't been expecting that, nor had Beth as I glanced at her surprised face.

"Mrs. Wright, wait!" I said, pushing the door open and following her inside, Beth on my heels. Julia ran ahead of us to the kitchen and shut the door. I hurried after her, pushing the door open warily.

"We just want to talk," I said, moving carefully into the room in case she attacked. Julia grabbed a canister of salt from the table, wrenched it open and tossed the contents at us in a cloud of white. Naturally it did nothing to us, and when she realised this Julia turned to stare at us.

"You're not demons?"

I frowned. "How do you know about demons?"

* * *

 _ **Dining Room  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

Julia offered to make us a coffee or tea, but we were more curious about her story. She made a tea for herself. Sam joined us when Dean sent for him, and the next thing we were all sitting around the dining room table in Julia's house, and she was telling us the story of how Jesse had come to be. She held her mug in both hands, the liquid sloshing with the unsteadiness of her fingers; finally she put it down and crossed her arms, looking at us.

"I was possessed. A demon took control of my body, and I hurt people. I killed people."

"That, that wasn't you," I said quickly, it was always the worst part, reassuring someone that they weren't in the wrong. It had taken me years to accept it, some people never did.

"But I was there. I heard a woman beg for mercy. I...felt a young girl's blood drip down my hands," Julia said, holding her hands in the air. I subconsciously found myself wringing my own hands under the table, as if I was washing them under the water like I had as a teenager.

"That's how you knew about the salt," Dean surmised.

"Yeah, I picked up tricks. It was in my head for months."

"How many months?" I asked.

"Nine."

I did the math and felt sick to my stomach. "So your son…"

"Yeah," she nodded, "the whole time. The pregnancy, birth—all of it. I was possessed." Her eyes glazed over as she started to recollect the birth, speaking as if from far away. "The night the baby was born, I was alone. And the pain was—the pain was overwhelming. I, I screamed, and it came out a laugh, because the demon was happy. It used my body to give birth to a child. When it was over, something changed. Maybe the—the demon was tired or if the pain helped me fight it, but...

Somehow, I took control." She took a sip of her tea, placing the cup back on the saucer in front of her. "And the demon wailed inside me. It pounded against my skull. I thought my head was gonna explode. But I knew. I knew what I had to do. I grabbed fistfuls of salt from a bag of road salt next to me, and I ate them. The demon had to leave."

Dean nodded. "That was smart." She shrugged as if to say she hadn't really had any other choice if she'd wanted to survive.

"Then I was alone with the baby…" she continued. "A part of me...part of me wanted to kill it. But, God help me, I couldn't do that. So, I put it up for adoption, and I ran."

"Who was the father?" Dean asked.

"I was a virgin," she replied. This caught my attention, I looked up to see Dean meet my gaze, his mouth straightening out to a thin line.

"Have you seen my son? Is he human?" She asked.

Dean nodded. "His name's Jesse. He lives in, uh, Alliance. He's a good kid." She nodded, a little smile crossing her face.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
Alliance, Nebraska**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth had fallen asleep a couple of times on the drive back to Alliance. Unhappily I'd shaken her, and she scowled at me, then realised what I'd done and tossed me a grateful smile. It was late as we reached the motel. I flicked the lights as we entered, not surprised to see Castiel waiting in the room.

Sam pushed past me to place his computer on the table, glancing at Cas. "I take it you got our message," he said as Beth flopped down on the bed face first with a groan.

Castiel looked at Sam, a little confused, and then to Beth. "Beth. You need to come with me."

Beth groaned again. "Where?"

"Heaven."

"Whoa, whoa," I said, holding my hand out to the angel. "Why?"

Beth pushed herself up on her elbows, looking at Cas through squinted eyes. "You know how to stop this?"

"Yes. For now. Until they give up," the angel replied. I felt a surge of relief pass through me, moved to stand by Beth.

"What's the plan?"

"We need to lock away Beth's soul," Cas answered.

I swallowed, not liking the sound of that. "You need to … what?"

"How can that be good?" Sam asked from his perch on the table.

"It's only temporary, until Zachariah stops using the Bells of Heaven to try and locate you," Cas said. I had a gut feeling and I went with it.

"No."

"Okay," Beth contradicted.

"No, I said no, Beth," I insisted. Beth glowered at me, pulled herself to a sitting position.

"And what? I don't sleep ever again?" She said testily.

"If they're going to come for us, let them come, I don't like this," I replied.

"Well, you don't get a say," she snapped, the words cutting me more than I let on. I knew it was her call, I just wanted her to listen to my gut feeling on this too.

Sam stood up. "Guys…"

"If we leave now…" Cas was speaking with Sam and the room seemed to close in from all directions suddenly.

"Stop it!" I snapped, "everyone needs to just take a chill pill for a minute. I'm not going to watch while my wife just hands over her _soul,_ that just doesn't sound right.."

"It'll be safe, we have somewhere safe to lock it away," Cas replied.

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better about it," I said, tossing my hand up in the air.

"Dean…" Beth grasped my other hand, looking at me with a combination of exhaustion and defeat. I felt my heart melt at the gaze, but was adamant.

"No, find another way. You don't mess with your soul, Beth. You of all people," I said, reaching down to hold her face in my hands. Beth started to cry, tears slipping down her cheeks and I brushed them out of the way. "Oh, baby, come on…"

"I can't keep going like this!" She whispered. "I feel like I'm at my wits end, Dean."

"If you don't do this, Zachariah _will_ find you. Michael will find you," Cas cut in.

"We can deal with that if when we come to that bridge," Sam said, stepping forward, clearly in agreement with me.

"Exactly, what Sam said," I said with a nod. "Right now we have bigger fish to fry. What do we do about this kid?"

"What kid?" Cas asked.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Dude you should check your messages."

Castiel pulled out his phone and dialed his voicemail, walking away as Beth hung her head down, her forehead pressed into my stomach. I groaned, dropped to my knees and lifted her chin.

"We will figure this out, okay?" I promised her. "But enough of the deals involving our souls, huh? I don't want to lose you, Beth. And we don't know what is involved here…" She grasped my shoulders and gulped a couple of large breaths of air, nodding silently. I felt sick, wished there was something more that I could do. I was seriously at the point of slipping her some sleeping pills, and bring the angels dammit, we'd deal with them the only way we knew how: with sarcasm and plain Winchester stubbornness.

"It's lucky you found the boy," Cas said as he hung up his phone, having replayed the messages we'd left him.

"Oh yeah," I said, glancing over my shoulder at him. "Real lucky. What do we do with him?"

"Kill him."

Sam paused in the middle of loosening his tie, his mouth dropping open. I felt Beth startle in my hands and I gaped at the angel.

"Come again?" I asked.

"This child is half demon and half human, but it's far more powerful than either. Other cultures call this hybrid cambion or katako. You know him as the Antichrist," Cas replied. He sat down at the table, and there was a moment of silence followed by a fart noise. _Yes!_

Cas's face looked slightly confused. "That wasn't me," he said. I grinned at Beth as Cas shifted sideways, tugged on the whoopee cushion that was now deflated underneath him.

"Who put that there?" I asked innocently. Sam shook his head with disbelief, promptly ignoring my prank. Beth at least smiled, that made me happy.

"Anyway, I don't get it. Jesse is the devil's son?" Sam said, bringing us back on point.

"No, of course not," Cas sighed. "Your Bible gets more wrong than it does right. The Antichrist is not Lucifer's child. It's just demon spawn. But it is one of the devil's greatest weapons in the war against Heaven."

"Well, if Jesse's a demonic howitzer, then what the hell's he doing in Nebraska?" I asked, moving to sit on the bed with Beth.

"The demons lost him. They can't find him. But they're looking."

"And they lost him because?" Beth asked.

"Because of the child's power. It hides him from both angels and demons. For now," Cas replied.

"So he's got, like, a forcefield around him. Well, that's great. Problem solved," I said.

"With Lucifer risen, this child grows strong. Soon, he will do more than just make a few toys come to life—something that will draw the demons to him. The demons will find this child. Lucifer will twist this boy to his purpose. And then, with a word, this child will destroy the Host of Heaven," Cas leaned forward, his face stern.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait," I said, standing up. "You're saying that—that Jesse's gonna nuke the angels?"

Cas nodded. "We cannot allow that to happen."

"Wait," Sam said. "We're the good guys. We—we don't just—kill children."

Cas turned to look at him. "A year ago, you would have done whatever it took to win this war."

"Things change," Sam replied.

"And he was wrong," Beth said, standing up. " _We_ were wrong. We don't kill children." I stepped forward as Sam started to look agitated, resting my hand on his shoulder.

"Okay. Hey, look, we are not going to kill him. All right? But we can't leave Jesse here either. We know that. So...we take him to Bobby's. He'll know what to do." I suggested.

"You'll kidnap him?" Cas asked. "What is going on in this town, it's what happens when this thing is happy. You cannot imagine what it will do if it's angry."

" _He_ is a child, Cas!" Beth cut in. "He's not an _it,_ like something without thoughts, feelings… he could just as easily be our child!"

"You're too emotionally involved. You haven't slept in days, you are dealing with the loss of your own child. You're not looking at this rationally," Cas replied. Beth's mouth dropped open and she stuttered for a response.

"Ra… rat… _rationally?_ You want to kill this kid based on what he _might do!"_ Cas might be an angel, but he didn't really understand human behaviour - not yet. He was getting better, but this was not an argument he was going to win where Beth and Sam were concerned. Heck, he wasn't even going to win it with me, and I was pretty desperately grasping at straws lately.

"How will you hold him?" Cas asked. "With a thought, he could be halfway around the world."

I frowned, considered. "So we…"

"So we tell him the truth," Sam cut in. "You say Jesse's destined to go dark side—fine. But he hasn't yet. So if we lay it all out for him—what he is, the apocalypse, everything—he might make the right choice."

Everyone fell silent. I knew we were all thinking it. Cas was just the only one with the balls to say it. "You didn't. And I can't take that chance." With the sound of bird wings, Cas vanished, leaving the three of us in the room, reeling from the news.

* * *

 _ **Jesse's House**_

 **Beth's POV**

Adrenaline was one way to keep you awake when every other part of your body wanted to shut down. We'd hightailed it to Jesse's house as soon as Cas vanished, Dean cursing the whole way about renegade angels, and how Cas was supposed to be on _our side._

He and Sam didn't stop until they'd kicked the door in, moving into the living room where we found Jesse, staring at us in shock.

"Was there a guy here? In a trench coat?" Dean asked. Jesse worthlessly pointed to the floor, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see an action figure standing in the middle of the room, wearing Cas's trenchcoat, his arm raised in the air holding a silver knife. Dean sucked in a sharp breath and picked it up, looking over at me. His eyes told me that we were indeed looking at a miniaturised version of Cas, and Dean placed him on the mantelpiece.

Jesse sat down on the couch, and I joined him. "Was he your friend?" He asked.

"Him?" Dean asked. "No…"

"I did that. But how did I do that?" Jesse asked, looking at Dean.

"You're a superhero," Dean said with a smile.

"I am?"

"Dean!" I snapped, frowning at the man. Dean shrugged slightly and nodded at Jesse.

"Yeah. Yeah. I mean, who else could turn someone into a toy? You're Superman—minus the cape and the go-go boots. See, my—my partners and I, we work for a secret government agency. It's our job to find kids with special powers. In fact, we're here to take you to a hidden base in South Dakota, where you'll be trained to fight evil."

I gaped at him, uncertain that this was a wise play. "Like the X-Men?" Jesse asked. Dean's eyes lit up and he nodded quickly.

"Exactly like the X-Men," he chuckled. "In fact, the, uh, guy we're taking you to—he's even in a wheelchair. You'll be a hero. You'll save lives. You'll get the girl. Sounds like fun, right?"

Jesse didn't get to answer. I watched in horror, a sickening feeling of having done this before hitting me as Dean was flung against the wall."

I turned to see Julia walk into the room, her eyes flashing black. "They're lying to you."

I stood up, and Sam stepped in to help Dean, but she was strong. With a wave of her hand, we were slammed against the wall alongside Dean. Jesse stood up, his eyes wide and panicked.

"Stay right there, dreamboat," the demon said to Sam. "Can't hurt you. Orders." She turned eyes to Dean. "You, on the other hand? Hurting you's encouraged." She flicked her wrist and Dean was sent flying through the air, smashing against the opposite wall before being rammed back where he had been.

"No!" I cried, struggling futilely against the demon's hold. This was just like when Lilith had come for Dean, and once again we were helpless to save him.

"Leave him alone!" Jesse yelled out suddenly. Julia's head snapped around to regard the child.

"Jesse. You're beautiful. You have your father's eyes." Jesse frowned.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm your mother," the demon said.

"No, you're not."

"Mm-hm. You're half human...half one of us," she said lovingly.

"She means demons, Jesse!" Dean called out. The woman straightened up, and held out her hand, clenching it into a fist. Dean groaned in pain and I felt the breath leave me as I watched him double over in pain.

"Those people you call your parents—they lied to you, too. You're not theirs—not really." The demon said, leaning back down to talk to Jesse.

"My mom and dad love me," Jesse said.

"Do they? Is—is that why they leave you alone all day? Because they love you so much? These people—these imposters—they told you that the tooth fairy was real and that your toys could hurt you and a hundred other things that aren't true. They love you so much, they made your whole life a lie. Look into your heart, Jesse. You've always known you weren't theirs. You've always known you were different. Everyone has lied to you. They're not FBI agents. And you're not a superhero."

"Then what am I?" Jesse asked.

"You're powerful." The demon replied, running a hand through his hair. "You can have anything you want. You can do anything you want."

"Don't listen to her, Jesse!" I said, seeing the boy's eyes flick to me. The demon growled in frustration, clenched her hand in my direction and I felt stabbing pain shoot through me. I gasped for air, feeling it expelled from my lungs while the demon turned back to Jesse.

"They treated you like a child. Nobody trusted you. Everybody's lied to you. Doesn't that make you angry?" Jesse's eyes narrowed, he bunched his fists and the room started to rattle from the energy he was expelling. The demon looked pleased with herself as the fire in the hearth flared up, and the lights started to flicker in the room.

"See?" She said. "It does make you angry. But I'm telling you the truth, Jesse." The tempo in the room started to pitch higher, the air grew thick with tension as glass objects splintered from the pressure, shattering across the floor.

"Wouldn't it be better if there were no lies? Come with me and you can wash it all clean. Start over. Imagine that—a world without lies." The demon offered.

"She's right." Sam said. "We lied to you." The demon spun on him, her eyes completely black. "But I'll tell you the truth." The demon reached for him, and I heard something crunch as Sam's throat started to constrict.

"I just want… to tell…" Sam's voice was laboured.

"Stop it," Jesse said. Instantly Sam dropped to the floor, released of the demon's hold. He gasped for breath, and looked up at Jesse. "I want to hear what he has to say." I felt the pressure on my own chest ease as the demon's attention was split between multiple people.

"You're stronger than I thought," she said to Jesse, impressed with the power the boy was exuding. Sam struggled to his feet, held out a hand to Jesse.

"We lied to you. And I'm sorry. So here's the truth. I'm Sam Winchester. That's my brother, Dean and my sister Beth. W-we hunt monsters," Sam said.

"Except when you are the monster. Right, Sammy?" The demon asked.

"And that woman right there, her name is Julia. She's your mother. But the thing inside of her, the thing that you're talking to—it's a demon," Sam continued. Jesse looked uncertain.

"A demon?"

"He's done nothing but lie to you since the moment you met him. Don't listen to him. Punish him." The demon said. Jesse looked frustrated, frowned at the woman.

"Sit down and shut up." A chair scooted up behind the demon, forcing her to sit down. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing was coming out.

Sam looked at her, and then back at Jesse. "There's, uh, kind of a...a war between angels and demons, and...you're a part of it."

"I'm just a kid," Jesse said.

"You can go with her if you want," Sam said. "I can't stop you. No one can. But if you do...millions of people will die."

"She said I was half demon. Is that true?"

"Yes. But you're half human, too. You can do the right thing. You've got choices, Jesse. But if you make the wrong ones, it'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Why are you telling me this?!" The boy asked, his eyes scared.

"Because I have to believe someone can make the right choice, even if I couldn't," Sam said softly. Jesse's face turned contemplative, and he thought silently about what he'd just heard, weighing up the facts. After a moment he looked at the demon, and clenched his fist.

"Get out of her," he ordered. The chair flew back against the wall, black smoke pouring out of Julia's mouth and disappearing up the chimney, through the now darkened fireplace. The force holding me to the wall was suddenly gone, and I hit the floor, landing on my hands and knees, gasping for breath.

"How did you do that?" Dean asked beside me.

"I just did," Jesse explained. Dean chuckled, shaking his head.

"Kid… you're awesome."

I laughed at Dean's impressed thoughts and rolled on to my back, groaning. "Oh I'm getting too old for this," I murmured, Dean nodded and placed an arm around me, pulling me next to him.

"Tell me about it."

Jesse walked over to Julia, who was still slumped in the chair, passed out cold. "Is she gonna be all right?" He asked. I looked at her, thinking about what she had to be going through, what I had gone through.

"Eventually," I said softly.

I saw Dean's hand move, and he picked up the little figurine that was Cas, holding it in the air for Jesse to see.

"Look, uh, truth is, he's kind of a buddy of mine. Is there any way you could turn him back?" Dean asked.

"He tried to kill me." Jesse pointed out.

Dean grimaced. "Right. Uh. But he's a—he's a good guy. He was just confused," he offered. Jesse remained silent, an awkward silence hanging in the air. "Okay. It's been a long night. We'll...talk about it later," Dean said finally.

"What now?" Jesse asked. Dean exchanged a look with me that told me he was just as bewildered about our plans as anyone else.

"Now we take you someplace safe, get you trained up. You'd be handy in a fight, kid."

"What if I don't want to fight?" He asked.

"Jesse," I said, getting to my feet and moving to sit in front of the boy, who had sunk on to the couch, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "You're powerful. More powerful than...pretty much anything we've ever seen. That makes you…"

"A freak," he said.

"To some people, maybe," Sam said. "But not to us. See, we're kind of freaks ourselves."

Jesse looked from Sam to me, and sighed. "I can't stay here, can I?"

It was heart breaking to see him fighting with the idea of leaving behind his parents, everything he had ever known. I knew that feeling all too well, and it was soul destroying. "No," I said sadly. " The demons know where you are, and more will be coming."

"I won't go without my mom and dad," Jesse insisted.

"There's nothing more important than family. We get that. And if you really want to take them with you, we'll back your play. But you gotta understand—it's gonna be dangerous for them, too." Sam stepped in.

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.

"Our dad...he would take us with him wherever he went," Dean said. Jesse thought about this, realised that we were on our own.

"Where is he now?"

"Dead," I said quietly, looking him in the eyes. "A demon killed him."

"Look, Jesse...once you're in this fight…" Dean said, kneeling down on the floor in front of the kid. "You're in it till the end, win or lose."

"What should I do?" Jesse whispered.

"We can't tell you. It's your choice. It's not fair. I know," Sam said, standing behind us. Jesse took a deep breath, nodded, and then seemed to reach some kind of understanding inside of himself.

"Can I go see my parents? I, I need to...say goodbye."

"Of course," I smiled, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. I looked at him, this was a kid that could easily have been any of us, could have been Sam in the right situation with the yellow-eyed demon. Jesse took my hand, pulled me with him as he walked toward the stairs.

"They're looking for you," he said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"I can hear the bells," he replied and it dawned on me what he was talking about.

"You can?"

"Yes. I don't know how, but I know they're looking for you," he supplied. I pressed my lips together in resignation. Now that the adrenaline had passed, I was feeling the effects of the last few days more than ever. I yawned, and nodded at him.

"That's right, just like they will be you," I said to him.

"Who are they? Demons?" He asked.

I smirked, shook my head. "No, no it's not demons looking for me, Jesse. It's angels. They want Dean." Jesse glanced over at Dean and Sam who were watching us from the living room. He closed his eyes and reached out, stepping up a few steps on the staircase until he could touch the top of my head.

When he opened them again, he smiled. "There. They can't find either of us now."

"What did you do?" I asked, looking at his curiously. The ringing in my head was gone, the migraine that had been threatening to take over was nothing more than a bad dream.

"Made you invisible to the bells. Me too," he said, and then he climbed the stairs to find his parents.

I turned to look at Dean, smiling brightly, he caught the improvement in my attitude almost immediately, waved me over and wrapped me in his arms as we waited for Jesse to come back downstairs.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

We waited half an hour. Long enough for Beth to tell us what Jesse had done for her, and how we didn't have to worry about the Bells of Heaven anymore. Sam was examining the Castiel action figure when I made the decision to go check on the kid.

"He's been up there a long time," I said, leading the way up the stairs. When we reached the bedroom that was Jesse's we found it empty.

"He's gone," Cas's voice sounded behind us, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the angel restored to his normal self.

"Where?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Jesse put everyone in town back to normal—the ones still alive. Then he vanished." Cas replied. I turned, noticing a piece of paper on Jesse's bed. Picking it up, I opened it, reading the short note before handing it to Sam.

"What does it say?" Dean asked.

"That he had to leave to keep his parents safe, that he loves them, and he's sorry," Sam replied.

"How do we find him?"

"With the boy's powers, we can't. Not unless he wants to be found." Cas said.

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Motel Room**_

 **Beth's POV**

We were packing our things, more than ready to get back on the road. I had already called dibs on the backseat, nothing was going to stop me from curling up with a pillow and blanket, and sleeping for the next however long we took to get where we were going. Not that we knew where that was, I had the feeling Dean was just going to point the car in a direction and drive. We were all feeling a bit tied down.

"You think Jesse's gonna be okay?" Dean said as he zipped up his duffel.

Sam took a deep breath as he sat down on his bed. "I hope so."

"You know, we destroyed that kid's life by telling him the truth," Dean said. I looked up from where I was wrapping my prayer candle in one of my shirts to protect it.

"We didn't have a choice, Dean," I said. He nodded, his brow furrowing in frustration.

"Yeah. You know, I'm starting to get why parents lie to their kids. You want them to believe that the worst thing out there is mixing Pop Rocks and Coke—protect them from the real evil. You want them going to bed feeling safe. If that means lying to them, so be it. The more I think about it...the more I wish Dad had lied to us."

"Yeah, me too," Sam said softly.

I felt somewhat differently about it. My father had lied to me about it, kept the darkness hidden behind a facade of middle school cheerleading and high school debate team. None of that helped me when Ruby came for him, if he'd just told me… maybe I'd have been wearing that anti-possession charm that was now tattooed at the back of my neck… maybe… I stopped, shaking my head. I could maybe my life away, _had done so_ for many years following his death. All we had was now.

Dean picked up his bag, sighed and headed for the door. "Come on, let's get outta here."

Sam hesitated, a resistance in his stance which instantly had me on edge. "Shouldn't we stay another night? Get some rest?" He said. Dean looked at Sam, rolled his eyes.

"No, it's time to get moving again," he said.

Sam shook his head sharply. "So first you drag me into town, and now you're dragging me back out?" He asked, his tone obvious. He hadn't wanted to come on this case, and now that it was over, he was still being ordered around.

"You ain't steering this boat," Dean said shortly, walking toward the door. " Let's go, chop chop."

"You know, this isn't gonna work," Sam said, I paused in the middle of zipping up my own bag. Dean stopped, turned around.

"What isn't?"

"Us," Sam said. "You, me, together, I—I thought it could, but it can't."

"You're the one that wanted back in, chief," Dean replied, tossing a look of frustration at me. I tensed, not sure of what was going through Sam's head.

"And you're the one who called me back in," Sam replied.

"I still think we got some trust building to do." Dean said. I questioned the logic in saying it outright. Sam was still struggling with everything he'd done, or failed to do, that much was clear in the things he'd said to Jesse.

"How long am I gonna be on double-secret probation?" Sam asked. Dean shrugged.

"Till I say so." I suspected that Dean's answer wasn't going to fly anymore with Sam, soon had it confirmed.

"Look. I know what I did. What I've done," Sam said. "And I am trying to climb out of that hole, I am, but you're not making it any easier."

"So what am I supposed to do, just let you off the hook?" Dean asked.

"No. You can think whatever you want. I deserve it, and worse. Hell, you'll never punish me as much as I'm punishing myself, but the point is, if we're gonna be a team, the three of us—it has to be a two-way street." I found myself slightly amused that even with our trio it was still Sam and against _us_ in the mentality. I made a mental note that it hadn't been like that before Dean went to Hell, yes, it had often been Dean and I making the decisions when we were younger, but many times Sam and I had ganged up on Dean too.

"So we just go back to the way we were before?" Dean asked.

"No," Sam said, "because we were never that way before. Before didn't work. How do you think we got here?"

"What do you mean Sam?" I asked, taking a few steps to place myself in between the two guys.

"Beth… one of the reasons I went off with Ruby...was to get away from you guys."

"What?" I asked, my voice slightly higher than intended.

"It made me feel strong. Like I wasn't your kid brother."

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Dean snapped, his face turning hard and angry.

"No, it's my fault. All I'm saying is that, if we're gonna do this, we have to do it different, we can't just fall into the same rut." Sam said. Dean shook his head and I could feel the pressure building."

"Sammy, what do you want us to do?" I asked, reaching out to place a hand on his arm. Sam looked down at it, sighed at me.

"You're gonna have to let me grow up, for starters." I nodded, pulled my hand back, seeing the little boy we'd protected for so many years starting to slip away. Maybe he was right, maybe we did need to start changing how we interacted with Sam.

Dean seemed to be mulling it over. "Yeah, okay, fine. You want us to stop protecting you Sam? Okay. But you gotta give us something to work with, you gotta start acting like you're in this fight for real, not just here out of some self-pity."

"Dean, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Sam asked.

"Enough," I said, looking from Sam to Dean. "No more apologies, we've done what we did because we thought we were doing the right thing. All of us. We can't change the past," I'd given it a lot of thought. It was part of what I'd had to let go of, what I'd prayed to be released from. My anger at Sam, for choosing Ruby over us. Ruby, of all people. But he hadn't known, none of us had.

"Okay," Dean nodded. "Hell, maybe you're right. I mean, I'm not exactly Mister Innocent in this whole mess either you know." Sam looked at him questioningly and Dean sucked in a deep breath. "I broke the first seal."

"You didn't know," I whispered. Sam's mouth dropped open, and I looked at him. "In Hell, the first seal was for a righteous man to spill blood in Hell." For the first time in Winchester history, a tense conversation _didn't_ deteriorate into a shitstorm, and Sam accepted what he was hearing with maturity rather than defensiveness or blame.

"Oh, Dean, I'm sorry…" he said. "But you didn't know."

"Yeah well, neither did you," I pointed out to Sam, who looked down.

"She's right," Dean nodded. "I'm not saying demon blood was a great way to go, but, you did kill Lilith."

"And started the apocalypse."

"Which neither of us saw coming, I mean, who'd have thought killing Lilith would've been a bad thing?" Dean said, pausing. "Point is, I was so worried about watching your every move that I didn't see what it was actually doing to you."

"Yeah," I said softly, nodding.

"So for that I'm sorry," Dean said.

Sam looked at him, then at me, a tinge of hope and a lot of relief and happiness in those dark eyes. He stood up and grabbed his bag, hoisting it over his shoulder, and then took the handles to mine, smiling. "Come on, let's get out of here." I wrapped my arm around his waist and nodded, catching a smile lift in the corner of Dean's mouth as he turned and walked out to the Impala, opening the trunk.

"So where do we go from here?" Dean asked, throwing his bag into the back.

"They way I see it, we got one shot at surviving this," Sam said.

"What's that?" I asked, sliding my hand down Dean's back as we reached the back of the car.

"Maybe I am on deck for the devil, maybe same with you and Michael, maybe there's no changing that," Sam said, pulling us back to the pre-destiny.

"Well, that's encouraging," Dean muttered. I bit my lip, not wanting to argue, but Dean shot me a look that told me he wasn't on board with Sam's theory.

"But, we can stop wringing our hands over it. We gotta just grab onto whatever's in front of us, kick its ass, and go down fighting," Sam finished. That got a smile from Dean, who considered the statement and then nodded, slipping his arm around my waist.

"I can get on board with that," he replied. Sam nodded, looked at me.

"Beth?" I bit my lip, thinking about the last few days, and everything Dean and I had been discussing about kids. Once again we were putting our plans on hold for Sam, and I felt like it would always be that way. He looked at me with eyes full of hope, and I couldn't shatter that.

"Okay. But we're gonna have to do it on the same level," I said.

Dean grinned slightly. "You got it sugarpie," he said softly, Sam nodding.

"I say we get the hell outta here," Dean said after a moment.

"Hell yeah," Sam agreed. Dean started to head for the driver seat, then hesitated, looking at the keys in his hands. Sam caught the movement, looked at him quizzically.

"You wanna drive?" Dean asked, offering the keys to Sam, who looked at them like he'd just been offered the keys to the city.

"You sure?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, looking at me. "Yeah, I could, uh...we could both use a nap."

I shook my head at Dean as he climbed into the backseat, patting his knee for me to lie down and use as a pillow. I crawled in after him and kissed his cheek as Sam put our bags into the trunk and slammed it shut. "That was very… mature, of you," I said.

"Mature nothing. I've been staying up with you these last few nights, I'm beat," Dean replied, slipping his arm around my shoulders and pulling my head into his shoulder. I buried my nose in under his chin and sighed. "I saw that look in your eye," he said softly as Sam climbed into the front and started the engine. He pulled back to look at me, concerned candy apple eyes stared into mine. "And we haven't finished our conversation yet."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: World on Fire by Sarah MacLachlan

* * *

I skipped _Fallen Idols_ because it bored me. Some of the heart to heart moments were taken from there and worked into here, which you might have noticed. _Fallen Idols_ will make a debut as a flashback eventually, with young relationship Dean and Beth, along with John and Cole - Earthhangel and I just have to get it happening.

* * *

Hello to all my new readers, great to have you here! Please leave me a review and tell me how you're liking the series. We're along way to go, but I have so many plans for this that I'm hoping you join us for the ride! Thank you all to my regular readers who leave me comments and reviews, your ongoing support is what keeps me going!

* * *

Thanks to my beta Earthhangel who is always there for me to bounce ideas off and run with the plot - she knows my plans as well as I do! If you like John Winchester fics, be sure to check out her story _How To Save A Life._

* * *

If there's any Star Trek fans out there, I've just published a new fic called _Stars are Blind_ which is a Leonard 'Bones' McCoy / OC fic, with Jim thrown in there too. Working on a bit of a Harry/Hermione/Ron friendship feel to it, with of course the inevitable romance between Bones and the OC. I'm enjoying it, it'll follow the JJ Abrams movies, but there's some original pre-movie storyline in there too.

* * *

Up next, Dean grows old, and it's not just in spirit!


	7. The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

_I've seen the world  
_ _Done it all  
_ _Had my cake now  
_ _Diamonds, brilliant_  
 _And Bel Air now_  
 _Hot summer nights, mid July_  
 _When you and I were forever wild_  
 _The crazy days, city lights_  
 _The way you'd play with me like a child_  
 _Will you still love me_  
 _When I'm no longer young and beautiful?_  
 _Will you still love me_  
 _When I got nothing but my aching soul?_  
 _I know you will,  
I know you will_  
 _I know that you will_  
 _Will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?_

* * *

 **THE CURIOUS CASE OF DEAN WINCHESTER**

* * *

" _He's gone off his food, again," whispers the attendant to the nurse. The nurse looks at the chart in front of her, frowning. "That's the third time this week," she replies, glancing at slight build of the seventy-five-year old man sitting in the chair by the window. He stares out at the rippling pond in the distance, lost in his own thoughts. "I'll get the brother," she says finally._

* * *

 _ **Hospital  
Rapid City, South Dakota**_

 **Beth's POV**

We'd thrown ourselves into hunting for the last few weeks. A true alliance, not one where Dean made the decisions and the rest of us followed. The legacy of John giving the orders, followed by Dean in his footsteps, was dead and buried; hopefully staying that way. Dean seemed lighter, happier about this decision. He was truly enjoying the way that the three of us had returned to life, to the hunt. I had to admit, it was a great way to distract us from other matters, and I'd given myself over to the revival as much as Dean and Sam had.

The latter was walking alongside me as we bounded up the steps to the hospital. He led the way to the basement where the morgue was housed chatting the whole way. The automatic doors opened to receive us, and I fished around in my jacket for the fake badge that would declare us a part of the CDC. Sam had his out and presented first, the doctor standing in front of us scoffed, turning to look at mine as I finally opened it.

"You expect me to believe you're CDC?" She asked skeptically and I froze, looked at the badge. It looked legit, how did she know?

"Excuse me?" Sam asked, not skipping a beat. I was starting to realise my acting skills had grown a little rusty in the last few months. Dean and I had been on some serious hunts, but mostly vampires and ghouls, things that didn't require us to interact with actual people in a place of authority. I resolved, as I looked over the doctor, that we might be due for some role playing. I was certain that Dean wouldn't have any complaints about that, he always scored the girl.

"It's just that you're a day early," the doctor explained sarcastically. "First time in history I haven't sat on my ass waiting for you people."

Oh. So that had been the issue. I chuckled, exchanged a relieved look with Sam and then shrugged. "New administration," I offered. "A change you can believe in." Everyone was on the Obama bandwagon, why not the CDC, I reasoned.

" _Right,"_ she replied.

Every morgue was a dreary place you never wanted to linger in, I was starting to see a pattern in the doctors who worked them: a dark sense of humour, if they had one at all - and deadpan personalities that left a lot to be desired. The doctor took a few steps to the large freezer behind her, reached out and pulled a drawer open. On the tray was an old man, I theorised almost eighty years old. For being dead, he looked somewhat peaceful, I had to admit.

"Meet Xavier. Date of birth, April third, nineteen eighty-four," the doctor said. I did the math. Eighty-four? Hell, he was younger than… Sam! I looked up, meeting Sam's troubled expression with a surprised one of my own, before looking at the doctor, shocked.

"I know," she said. "I ran the DNA twice. That's definitely him."

I shook my head, "well, uh, I guess he wasn't much into sunscreen, huh?" I joked, and Sam chuckled before looking at the doctor.

"So what's your theory?"

"All I know is, decedent's male, twenty-five years old, and died of old age," she replied.

* * *

 _ **Outside the Hospital**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth had called while I was filling up the car, and I was now waiting for them to finish up whatever they were doing in the morgue. I phoned Bobby to fill him in.

"You were right about this one. It's definitely a job."

" _Thought so,"_ he answered. " _Any other stiffs in town?"_

I'd already run past the police station and talked to the captain. "Just the one body," I replied. There wasn't much going on in Rapid City.

" _Anything else?"_

"Couple of missing persons, but usual for a town this size," I said with a shrug. Looking up, I saw the familiar figures of Sam and Beth exit the hospital, it brought a smile to my face.

" _Well, check 'em out."_

"You think they're connected?" I asked. Bobby had a way of seeing connections where they weren't obvious - Dad had been the same, two of the most impressive minds I'd ever met. If he insisted, I wasn't going to ignore him.

" _Call it a hunch."_

"You got it," I said as Beth joined me by the Impala, kissing my cheek.

I smiled as she shrugged out of her suit jacket, folding it neatly and placing it on the back seat. My mind returned to Bobby, and how he was all alone at his house - we really needed to go check in on him after this job. "And, by the way, how you doing?" I asked, cringing slightly at the question.

" _Doing?"_ Bobby asked.

"Yeah. You know, just...in general?" I asked. Beth raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. I was trying at least.

" _Oh, you mean my legs? Well, I'm just weepin' in my Haagen-Dazs. Idjit!"_ Bobby snapped before hanging up the phone. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that my attempt to connect had been shot down so easily.

"Bobby?" Beth asked as I sighed and slipped the phone into my jeans pocket. I nodded. "Told you to stop babying him?" She guessed.

"More or less," I replied, frowning slightly. I wasn't completely inept at this emotional stuff - I seemed to manage it okay with Beth. Mind you, she was easy, she'd never really judged me for being anything other than myself. There was something about opening up to Bobby, and bombing out, that wasn't good for the soul. "I think you can handle the check-in's from now on, babe."

Beth laughed and kissed my nose. "I'm sure you did fine. Bobby told me to, and I quote ' _quit pandering, mind your own business, and leave me the Hell alone,'_ last week." I grinned: she hadn't told me that.

"Well that makes me feel a little better. He just hung up on me."

"So, we have no explanation for Xavier, other than… weird," Sam announced, finally joining us from the hospital. "But, I just overheard a nurse saying that seeing him reminded her of _her_ grandfather, who is currently _missing._ She was hoping that it wouldn't be him on that slab next."

I grinned at him. "You get a number?"

Sam snorted indignantly, but a moment later produced a blank prescription, a number and name scrawled across it. "Wow, great work Sammy, you still got game."

"I never _lost_ my game, Dean, I just don't slut around like you," Sam retorted.

"Hey, I take offense to that!"

"He's right though," Beth chuckled, stepping up behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist, leaning her chin on my shoulder. "You're incorrigible."

"Hey!"

"Which… I happen to like, so chill," she whispered in my ear. Sam laughed and shook his head. I was trying not to groan out loud as Beth playfully nipped at my earlobe, she was giving me all manner of wicked ideas, and I started thinking a few of them through as I looked at Sam.

"So, you seeing her tonight?" I asked, hopefully. "What's her name?"

"Uh, maybe. We talked about dinner and going to the bar to shoot some pool," Sam replied. "Brenda Whitlow." I grinned, nodding at him.

"Yep, Cliff Whitlow. He's on the list of people Bobby wants us to check into."

"Well, okay then, great," Sam said with a nod. "Shall we go do that?"

"We shall," Beth agreed, slipping her hand into my pocket and taking the keys from me. "I'm driving!"

"Hey!" I protested.

"You need your rest, Romeo," she grinned and I _ooooo'ed_ at her, I liked the sound of where tonight was heading.

* * *

 _ **Cliff Whitlow's House**_

 **Beth's POV**

I pulled the Impala into the curb with a flourish that would do Dean proud. He whooped a little from the passenger side and then tossed me a rogue grin. "You might be more of a reckless driver than me," he offered, and I laughed.

"Well I _did_ learn from you."

"Touche'" he admitted. "Not sure that was a good thing now."

"Oh please, I'm a good driver," I said, opening the door and climbing out.

"Better than you, anyway," Sam chimed in. Dean snorted, a form of protest when he knew he couldn't argue with what was being said.

"All right, all right," he conceded. "Dammit I hate when you two gang up on me."

Inside the house, just as on the outside, everything seemed calm and collected. I thought about how I'd been when Dean was in Hell, and things had been anything but that. Mrs Whitlow was upset, but certainly not devastated. I mused as to whether age gave you that kind of perspective - did there come a time when you just expected to lose your husband or wife and become okay with this idea? I couldn't see it ever happening for me, even if we did manage to live to a hundred years old.

Perched next to me on a floral sofa that positively screamed _old people live here_ , Dean handed me the framed photo of Cliff, the missing husband, after taking a cursory glance at it.

"That's the most recent," Mrs Whitlow said as she joined us, sitting down in an armchair opposite us. Sam moved to look down over my shoulder as Mrs Whitlow leaned forward with a new, unframed photograph. It was of Cliff at a golf tournament, proudly showing off his June win at Miami Palms. My eyes fell curiously to the Marine tattoo on his right inner arm as he proudly held up his trophy.

"How long has he been missing?" I asked, looking up at the woman. She watched us with wide, expectant blue eyes. I detected a change in her expression almost immediately upon hearing the question.

"Oh, I knew right away when he didn't come home Tuesday night," she said.

"Is there someplace he likes to go after work, maybe? A favorite bar?" Dean questioned. She laughed, shaking her head in amusement.

"No. Tuesdays, he always works a bit late, but he always comes straight home," she said confidently. I smiled indulgently, she seemed like a sweet old lady. Beside me Dean tensed, his fake smile plastered across his face.

"May I use your facilities, ma'am?" He asked, the question telling me all I needed to know. He suspected Cliff had other extra-curricular activities on a Tuesday, something other than work, and he needed a reason to go snooping. Mrs Whitlow waved Dean down the hallway and then smiled hopefully at me. I grimaced internally, feeling my stomach squirm. Gut feeling told me that Cliff wasn't coming back, but passing that information on to Mrs Whitlow was not something I would relish.

By the time we made it back to the Impala I was ready for food and a couple of beers. Everything inside that house had been… perfect. Just what people were supposed to want when they grew old. A loving family, the perfect decor, the _routine_ of it all. I chewed on my lip as I thought about the unspoken conversation Dean and I still had to have. The one about where to from here… the one about a baby.

I found myself gazing back at the quaint little, well-kept house and wondered, could I do that?

"' _Working late'_ my ass," Dean announced, breaking the spell as he held up a receipt in the air.

"What did you find?" Sam asked, grabbing the piece of paper from him.

"$250 spent at _Madame Liu's Golden Palace,"_ Dean informed us. "Somehow I don't think he was getting a snack before coming home."

"Well, not of the food variety anyway," Sam chuckled.

"Maybe we can get a room," Dean suggested as he sidled up to me, "start our evening out right?"

* * *

 _ _ **Madame Liu's  
Downtown**__

 **Dean's POV**

 _Madame Liu_ had been extremely helpful so far in locating the missing Mr Whitlow, waving us down to a room at the end of a long corridor in her establishment.

"Well, at least he's consistent," Sam commented as he led the way, Beth following closely behind. "Same room every Tuesday, hourly rates."

"You know I'm still constantly amused that you guys know about these places," Beth mused as we passed an exiting man who looked guiltily down at his feet when she flashed him an accusatory look.

"Totally married," she said as he scuttled toward the exit.

"This kind of establishment runs on married men," I said. "And as for me…. research, you know. Gotta know where the perps go." It was complete and utter BS and we both knew it. Back in the days when she was in firm denial about our feelings for each other, I'd visited these sorts of places from time to time. It was a good way to get my frustrations out, when I wasn't looking to pick up in a bar. "How _Sam_ knows about them, we are all waiting breathlessly to hear."

Sam snorted and rolled his eyes. "What makes you think I have any idea about these kinds of places?"

"Call it a hunch," I said.

"Riiiiight," Beth chimed with an amused look. "Well Mr 80-year-old _married_ missing man sure knew where he was going."

"Hope I got that kind of kick when I'm his age," I said, my mind drifting to the possibilities. Fancy being eighty years old and still got enough in you to be coming to _Madame Liu's_ on a weekly basis. I wondered if he was still giving it to the wife back home on top of it. I didn't wonder for long, she'd looked like a bit of a quiet one, probably didn't do sex at their age, which was why Mr 80-year old was coming weekly to here. "We'll still be going strong, you think babe?" I asked, looking at Beth. I couldn't imagine ever _not._

Beth chuckled, "they have pills if you can't keep up."

"Oh I'll keep up …"

Sam stopped in front of us, turning around. "Not… something I need to have in mind, guys," he chastised. I grinned at Beth, sending her a wink.

"If I've said it once," I said, "I'll say it a thousand times…"

"...It's perfectly natural, Sammy!" Sam chimed in as I finished the sentence.

"See?" I asked, I'd clearly said it enough. Beth laughed at the jinx as Sam rolled his eyes with his trademark 'fed up' expression.

"Yeah, like any of us will live that long anyway," he added, turning and walking down the hall again. I fell silent, uncertain of how I felt about that statement. In one way, I knew it was pretty spot on, the likelihood of any of us making it to fifty was pretty slim - what with the demons, angels and assorted other monsters out there trying to kill us. But just the same, the optimist in me saw a long life ahead of us, together, happy. I glanced sideways at Beth, scowling at the back of Sam's head, when I saw her lost in thoughts that I would bet weren't far from my own.

"Well," I said finally, "we don't know that."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we do, Dean," Sam tossed over his shoulder, coming to stop in front of the room we'd been seeking.

"So," Beth said, changing the subject, "what do you think's in there?"

We paused, looking at the red door with gold embossed numbers reading '44' on it. The whole place was in over-the-top oriental decor, lavish and gaudy all at the same time.

"A wrinkly, gooey corpse," I said after a moment of thought. Beth wrinkled her nose at me in distaste, but it was true. The man had been missing for a week, not that I thought he'd been _here_ for that whole week, but stranger things had happened. Sam pulled his lock picking kit out of his jacket and looked around. I grinned, pulling Beth into my arms and nuzzling her neck as we leaned against the wall to block what Sam was doing. "Now this… this is the kind of work I like."

"Oh, God!" A man's voice cried out behind the door. I stopped, looked over my shoulder as Sam stood up quickly. "Oh, God! Oh! Oh, God!"

I exchanged a look with Sam, both of us deciding on action without speaking, and we threw our shoulders against the door, which as it turned out wasn't locked, and swung open without protest.

"Hey! What the…?"

We stopped short once inside the room. There was a young man, _not a wrinkly old corpse,_ in the bed, a half-dressed woman on top of him.

"Oh," Sam said, clearly at a loss for words.

Another woman's head popped out from under the covers and I chuckled, shaking my head appreciatively at the man. He had style at least.

"It's gooey," Sam commented as Beth looked over our shoulders.

"Eeep," she said. "Not what I was expecting."

"But way better," I said with a nod. "Eh?"

"Good god Dean," Sam admonished. Both the women jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom while the man in the bed looked to us for an explanation.

"Sorry," I said, raising my hand in an almost salute. "Uh, got the wrong room." I started to back up out of the room.

"Close the door!" He called out, but Beth was pushing into my back.

"Hey," she said, stepping past me. The guy grinned at her and leaned forward.

"Hey gorgeous, you want to join in?" He asked. "They'll have to go though."

Beth looked at me, rolling her eyes. I shrugged - couldn't blame a guy for trying. I know I would have if she'd walked in on me. Turning back to the man, Beth pointed to his arm.

"Nice tattoo," she commented. I followed her lead and saw the same Marine Corps tattoo that had been on Cliff Whitlow's arm in the gold photo.

"Huh," I said. "Happen to know anybody named Cliff Whitlow?"

The man shook his head, a little too fast. "Never heard of him."

"Well," Beth said, walking over to the man's clothes that were discarded on the floor and rummaging through his pants, standing up with his open wallet. "That's weird," she said, pulling out a driver's licence. "Because you're carrying his wallet."

It was enough for me. With a moment of pure genius, I walked to the edge of the bed, pulling the covers up to look at the naked man underneath - his thigh to be exact. "Huh, your wife told us about your, uh, birthmark there. That's nice." I said, dropping the covers again. The man looked alarmed at the three of us, clearly at a loss for words.

I stepped back to take in his appearance, he was lucky to be my age. "Well, you look great. Cliff. Did you get some work done?"

Cliff shook his head and sighed, looking over at the two girls who were lingering in the bathroom doorway.

"Could you give us some privacy?" He asked. The girls had pulled on bathrobes. Cliff climbed out of bed, grabbing a robe from the chair nearby and putting it on. He winked at Beth as he took his wallet off her, which drew a bit of a protest from me, and then turned to hand the girls some cash. As they left, he closed the door behind them and turned back to us.

"Please don't tell my wife," he said. I'd have laughed at his pathetic face if it weren't so bizarre that a 20-something man was asking us to lie to his 70-something wife.

"Slow down," I replied, perplexed by the whole situation.

"I'm begging you. As far as she knows, I'm dead. For the love of God, let's keep it that way," he pleaded.

"How can you possibly be Cliff Whitlow?" Beth asked. The man took a deep breath and shook his head.

"I can't tell you." Was the man serious? He was asking us to keep a pretty major secret here, he had to give us something.

"Well, either you tell us or we tell the missus," I threatened. He pursed his lips, clearly determined. I shared a mutual look of frustration with Beth, and then shrugged, turning for the door.

"Have it your way," Beth said, starting to follow me.

"Okay! Okay! It was a game," he said, grabbing her arm.

"Like… Xbox?" Sam asked. Cliff frowned in confusion, looked at Sam, as Beth shrugged off his hand.

"What's Xbox?" He asked. I chuckled, only an 80 year old man would say that. "No," he continued. "Poker. High stakes. Instead of cash, you play for years."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Beth asked.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy. Guy comes up to me at a bar, invites me to play. Gives me twenty-five of these weirdo poker chips, right? Chants some mumbo jumbo over them, says now they're twenty-five years. I'm laughing, but then I come out up. And look at me," he said, sweeping his hands down the length of his body.

"What was he chanting?" Sam asked.

"How should I know?" Cliff laughed. "All I know is, my bad hip's good, I threw away my glasses. One of those ladies was here for free! Man's some kind of miracle worker."

"Yeah, well, what does this miracle worker look like?" Beth asked. Cliff shrugged.

"Just a guy. Maybe thirty-five, brown hair. Irish accent. His name was Patrick," he answered.

"Where's this game at?" I asked.

"He said he likes to keep moving. Never stays in one bar long. And he finds you."

"Thank you, Cliff," I replied, turning and walking toward the door. Beth was frowning at Cliff, clearly unhappy with the situation. I took her arm gently and moved her ahead of me, exchanging a warning glance with Sam, who slipped his arm around her and guided her toward the exit. "Oh," I said, pausing and looking at the man who was still standing in the room. "And...uh… stay classy."

* * *

 _ **Impala - Downtown  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

Dean leaned on the hood of the car, his phone on speaker as Sam and I joined him. "It sounds crazy, right?" He asked Bobby.

" _No. There's lore on it. Goes back centuries. Traveling card player pops into town. You beat him, you get your best years back. 'Course, most folks lose."_ Bobby replied.

"Well, that would explain the crunchy corpse," I said, leaning against the bumper.

" _Supposedly, this player's a hell of a card shark. Got a lot of years in the bank. You find the bar he's working in yet?"_ Bobby asked.

"There's a lot of dives in this town," Dean answered. "We're gonna have to split up."

" _Well, why you still talking to me?"_ Bobby hung up the phone and Dean stood up, frowning.

"Is it just me, or is he getting grumpier?" He asked.

"There is definitely something going on with him," Sam replied. I nodded, thinking about our next move. Splitting up really wasn't something I was in the mood for, but Dean was right, we'd be able to cover more ground. I sighed, a little disappointed that we weren't going to be able to kick back and relax like I'd been thinking we could earlier. Dean seemed to sense something was going on, walking up and taking my shoulders in his hands, bending down to look me square in the eye.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Just tired."

"We don't have to split up, you can come with me," he offered, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, you guys can check out the South side of downtown, I'll take the North," Sam agreed. I caught the puppy dog worried look on Sam's face and shook my head, steeling my emotions.

"No, it's okay, I'm fine - really. We just need to get this done, and we'll do it a lot faster if we split up." There was something unsettling about this case, it felt like big magic to me, and that always meant witches… sometimes demons and deals, though from Cliff's story no soul exchanges had happened. I contemplated the last witches we'd come into contact with and sighed, the idiots had opened a doorway to Hell and unleashed the 7 Deadly Sins in the form of demons. Brilliant. I was hoping, given the Apocalypse and all, we weren't walking into a similar situation.

Hours later I was leaving yet another dinky little dive, having been hit on four times in this bar alone. I mentally shrugged it off, shuddering a little as I tried to forget the broken-toothed, smelly bikie that had just tried to feel me up. I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial, moving to the motorcycle I'd _borrowed_ for the manhunt.

" _Hey beautiful,_ " Dean answered. " _Find anything?"_

"Plenty of sleazeballs wanting to take me out back… but not for poker," I replied, slipping my leg over the bike and sitting down, resting as we talked. "You?"

" _A whole bunch of squat,"_ he said.

"I miss you," I said softly. "And I'm hungry."

Dean chuckled and paused as I heard a slight commotion in the background. " _Yeah, I miss you too,"_ he said. " _How many places left on your list?"_

I looked down, counted off my section from the list Sam had made. "Three," I replied.

" _Okay, yeah, I got a couple more too. If you come up dry head back to the motel. It's your turn to grab dinner."_ Now that was something to look forward to. Sam had cancelled his tentative plans with _Brenda_ which meant Dean and I were unlikely to get much time alone, like I'd hoped.

"Usual?" I asked, wondering why I was even asking. We'd been eating the same thing for a few weeks now, it was a miracle we weren't the ones suffering the coronaries, and not from old age.

" _Extra bacon,"_ Dean said.

* * *

 _ **A different bar**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth sounded pretty miserable, I figured I'd have to work on changing that mood if we bombed out tonight. I hung up from the call, and sat down at the bar, looking up as the bartender wandered over.

"Can I get a beer?"

"Yep," he replied, reaching for a bottle.

"You wouldn't happen to know of a poker game going on in back, would you?" I asked. He opened the bottle, passing it to me without skipping a beat.

"It's a bar, not a casino," he replied. I smirked, digging into my pocket and feeling around for the cash I had stashed there.

"My friend Ben told me you'd know," I replied.

"Don't know any Ben."

"Sure you do," I insisted. "You know, balding, smart-ass, real ladies' man?"

The bartender leaned forward, looking me sternly in the eyes. "Listen, pal, I told you. I don't know any Ben. I don't know nothing about a game." I raised my eyebrow, gut instinct telling me I was spot on with this guy, there was something he was hiding, he was playing it way too cool.

"You sure? 'Cause, uh…" I pulled the hundred dollar bill out of my pocket, placing Ben Franklin's face up, and slid it across the bar to him. "He sure seems to know you."

He glanced down at the bill, then up at me, reaching out to take it with a slight smile. I was in.

Moments later I was walking out the back of the bar, heading for the elevator. A clattering noise sounded and I turned around, seeing, of all people, Bobby roll out of the elevator.

"Bobby? What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.

"Planting daisies. What's it look like? Came in on the case," he replied gruffly.

"And you beat me here?" I asked. We'd only been looking for about two hours, he'd had to have high tailed it here from Sioux Falls, _and_ had a lot of luck.

"Well, brains trumps legs," he snapped. Something was definitely wrong here. He seemed even grumpier than usual.

"So, you found the game?" I asked as Bobby rolled his wheelchair around me.

"Yep."

"Did you stop it?" I questioned. He didn't answer, which was rather ominous. "Bobby?"

Bobby stopped and turned around, shaking his head. "Not exactly." I didn't like the look that was in his eyes. I figured I knew the answer to my question before I even asked it, but I still had to hear it for myself.

"What did you do?"

"I played, okay?" He snapped.

"And?" I asked, again already holding the answer.

"I lost."

"Are you kidding me? You played some—some he-witch?" I couldn't help myself. I heard the words coming out of my mouth, knew they weren't going to help the situation any, and that it could push Bobby away, and I just went right on with it anyway.

"Don't you take that tone with me," Bobby chastised.

"You idiot!" I snapped.

"They're my years! I can do what I want!"

"How many did you lose?" I asked.

Bobby sighed, shaking his head. "Twenty-five." I looked closer at him, and right before my eyes I watched his face change - more wrinkles set in around his eyes and his skin took a grey tone that filled me with more of a dread than I had already been feeling.

Instantly I knew what I had to do, and no one was going to be happy about it. "We're not done," I announced, turning on my heel and heading to the elevator.

Dark mahogany wood made up the bar, and trimmed the ceiling, it was rather tasteful given the others I'd been to for the night. I imagined this was just the place for bootleg whiskey and moonshine during prohibition years. I scanned the dark room, eyes set on finding my prey.

A man was trying to cut in on an older man and a woman near the bar, making the couple seem rather uncomfortable. I walked straight up to him, hearing the Irish accent, and tapped on his shoulder. "Hey, man. Excuse me. Can I borrow you for a sec?" I adjusted my jacket, allowing him a glimpse of the glock tucked into my waistband. Patrick, because this is obviously who he was, glanced down at it, and then back up at me as I smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Great. Good to see you," he said. I grinned at him, nodding as I turned and walked across the room to a table. I heard Patrick excuse himself from the couple and then follow.

"Sorry to cut you short with Mr. and Mrs. Easy Marks over there," I said as he joined me, both of us sitting down across the table from each other.

"Oh, no big," he said, holding up a gold wristwatch. "Wasn't a total loss."

I smirked, pulling out my gun and resting it on my leg. Patrick didn't miss this action and held his hands up in surrender.

"Look, I don't know what it is you think I did to your wife or girlfriend…" I frowned at him, not sure what he was getting at, Patrick kept talking, "...mother or sister, but, uh, I just want you to know, my feelings were real."

I shook my head at him, almost laughing at the thought of Beth cheating. "That ain't my problem, man-witch. You owe my friend some years."

"Oh, that's what this is," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I'm sorry. He lost. Them's the breaks."

"Well, then un-lose him," I insisted, cocking the gun. Patrick flicked his eyes down at the gun, didn't seem to hesitate at all.

"Oh, go ahead and shoot me, if it makes you feel better. Besides, I could use a good...you know...tickle," he said with a smile. His face grew serious, and he leaned forward on the table, looking me in the eyes. "You want years? Great. Play me for 'em."

"Fine," I said confidently. I could beat this guy, there wasn't anyone better at poker than I was.

"Dean, no!" Bobby said, wheeling his chair up behind me.

"They're my years. I can do what I want," I said, throwing what he'd said to me back in his face. Bobby's face twisted in anger and he started to bark something at me, only to have the words catch in his throat. He started wheezing and coughing.

Patrick held up a cough drop with an amused look, asked "lozenge?" Bobby glared at him. "What? It's barely linty." He paused, his joke falling flat, then shrugged. " Okay, well, suit yourself. Just trying to help."

"All right, all right. Come on. Let's do this," I said. My mind was on winning back these years for Bobby and getting home to Beth and trying to sort out what had been bothering her for the better part of the day.

"You understand the terms?" Patrick asked, setting a red case on the table. He opened it to reveal eight stacks of poker chips. Chewing on a toothpick thoughtfully, he reached for a stack of red poker chips. "Buy-in's twenty-five years," he added, closing the box.

"Make it fifty," I countered. Bobby glanced at me and Patrick smiled.

"I like the cut of your jib," he said. I smirked at him, we'd see how much he liked me when he was giving me fifty years. Patrick opened the box again, pulling another stack of red chips out and adding them to the others. He held his hand over them, and then spoke some language I'd never heard, but which I figured was old Irish, or Gaelic or something.

"Lannraich gu dealrach a-nis." There was a lightshow across the stacks and then Patrick sat back, nodding. I took the stacks, counted out twenty-five years and then put them in front of the man.

"Twenty-five. That's twenty-five years. They go to him," I said, nodding at Bobby as I pushed the chips into the middle of the table. "And he's cashing out."

"Dean!" Bobby exclaimed.

"Bobby," I growled warningly at him.

"You sure?" Patrick asked. "Don't need to think this through a bit? Call a ...significant other?"

"Dammit boy, think of your family," Bobby said. What he didn't seem to comprehend was the fact that to Beth, Sam and I, he was family. And if they were here, they'd be doing exactly the same thing.

"I'm sure," I said.

Patrick looked impressed, leaned forward and waved his hand over chips in front of him, again speaking some kind of mumbo jumbo. "Las suas agus cuir ás an teine. Mar sin bitheadh." The chips caught fire, quickly burning to ash in an instant, and when I looked over at Bobby, he was back to normal. I breathed a sigh of relief, though he was scowling at me.

"That's twenty-five years you just pissed away. Better be sure you can win them back," Patrick said. I tapped the remaining chips in front of me, looking him in the eye. It was now or never.

"Shuffle up and deal."

Patrick laughed, shaking his head. "This is gonna be fun."

* * *

 _His wife was sitting with the man, holding his hand. She grasped it tightly, and no matter who had tried to go in and pry her away, she wouldn't be moved. He sighed, running a hand across his tired, old face. Decades they'd been together, a lifetime, and there had always been one factor they'd clung to. Their brother. He knew from experience, she would let go when she was ready - and not Heaven nor Hell would move her before that. "Sir," the young attendant said, stepping up to him. "I'm so very sorry for your loss." He nodded, mustered up a smile for her sake. "It was peaceful," he replied. "He lived a long life. It was more than we ever expected."_

* * *

 _ **Motel Room**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _An hour or so later…_

I met Sam in the parking lot. I'd had to commandeer a car for the last part of the trip, there just wasn't any way I was going to manage take-out on the motorcycle. As he reached the car, I handed him a tray of drinks, and then grabbed the bag of burgers, locking the car and shutting the door. It was a parking lot in a motel, it'd be a while before anyone came calling for this car.

"Nothing?" I asked, and Sam shook his head.

"Maybe Dean had better luck," he replied, and I shrugged.

"He would have called if he did, probably inside watching TV," I chuckled, stepping up to the door. Sam had his key out and slipped it into the lock, pushing the door open. I walked ahead of him, dropping the bag on the table just inside. The room was dark, and empty, and then I heard the water running in the bathroom.

"Hey, babe, you here? You find anything?" I called out, rummaging through the burger bag and pulling out a few wrapped items.

"Uh, you might say," came a voice as the door to the bathroom opened. I glanced up to see an old man in a bathrobe wander into the room, rubbing his hair with a towel. Sam startled beside me, drawing his gun.

"Who the hell are you!?" He demanded. The man held his hand in the air, waving it dismissively at Sam.

"Dude, relax. It's me," he said, as if that made sense. I frowned, taking a step toward him as Sam lowered his gun. Green eyes raised to meet mine, and in that face, I knew him.

"Dean?" I asked

"Hi," he said softly, looking at me with a familiar, apologetic look.

"Oh….my...god…." I couldn't believe it. He'd aged…. fifty odd years in hours! "Oh my god... _oh MY GOD_ …" I took a step closer and examined him. The set of his jaw, the colour of his eyes, the soft fullness of his lips… it was him, even if he looked like he was eighty.

"You know, usually I have to be touching you to get that kind of a response out of you," Dean joked, though there was very little humour in his tone.

"What the hell happened?" Sam spluttered. Dean shrugged, stepped past me to the table where he picked up a burger.

"I, you know...found the game," he explained. Sam watched him, his jaw practically on the ground as we both attempted to take in this news.

"You f—I thought you said you were g-good at poker," Sam said.

"He is," I said quietly. I couldn't fathom it. I'd _never_ seen Dean lose, ever. Not if he wanted to win.

"I am. Shut up," Dean snapped, turning around and brandishing his food. "So, you were just gonna shoot some old guy? Is that it?" He took a large bite of his burger and started to chew as he looked questioningly at Sam.

"I didn't know what you were. I mean, have you seen you? You look like…." Sam's voice dwindled off.

"The old chick in _Titanic_. I know. shut up," Dean finished around a mouthful of food.

"I was gonna say Emperor Palpatine," Sam continued.

There was a thud, and then the door to the room flung open, Bobby rolling through it, his face dark and moody. The door swung closed behind him and he stopped short, looking from Sam to me.

"I see you met John McCain there," he muttered.

"Yeah," I said, finding my voice. I looked at Dean again, trying to wrap my brain around his appearance. "Either of you want to tell me what happened?"

"Bobby's an idiot," Dean said. "That's what happened."

"Hey," Bobby snapped. "Nobody asked you to play."

"Right. I should have just let you die."

"And for damn sure, nobody asked you to lose!" Bobby continued. Sam grinned, looking at me. I threw him a confused, curious, look - what was he finding so funny?

"It's like _Grumpy Old Men_ ," he said.

"Shut up, Sam!" Bobby and Dean replied in unison.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dean continued, turning back to Bobby. "He's a witch. He's been playing poker since guys wore tights."

"You just don't get it," Bobby muttered.

"Yeah, I get it, Bobby. You saw a chance to turn the hands of the clock back and get out of that damn chair. Pretty tempting. I can imagine," Dean said.

"No, you can't," Bobby insisted.

"You got me. I never been paralyzed. But I tell you something—I've been to Hell," Dean said, the very words stabbing me in the gut. "And there's an archangel there wanting me to drop the soap. Look at me! My junk's rustier than yours! You hear me bellyaching? Huh?" He waved his hand down the length of his body and Sam snorted.

"Uh, actually, yeah."

"Oh!" Dean said suddenly, his face contorting in pain as he sat heavily on the nearest chair. He was holding his burger in one hand, and grabbed at his chest with the other. "I'm having a heart attack."

I panicked, rushing to him and looking urgently at his face. "Sam!" I said. "Call an ambulance. Dean, don't worry, you're going to be okay," I said gently, locking eyes with his.

"Don't bother," Bobby said and I spun around to look at him.

"What?!"

"He's not dying," Bobby said. "It's acid reflux. Guys his age can't digest certain foods," he added, looking at Dean. "You're gonna need to put down that cheeseburger."

I gaped, the reality of our situation suddenly hitting me. Dean sighed and dropped his food on the table, seeming to improve as he calmed down.

"So, you want to keep emoting, or you want to talk about solving this little issue of yours? It's got to be about the chips," Bobby said. I shook my head, climbing to my feet and sitting on the chair next to Dean's.

"I slid 'em across, Patrick did his little witchy number, and you prettied up in a hurry," Dean agreed.

"I mean, what are you all thinking? Some kind of magic chips or something?" Sam asked.

"Definitely," Bobby said.

"You remember what he chanted?" Dean asked, looking at Bobby.

"Yep—every word," he replied.

Now things were sounding a little more promising. I could feel tiny rays of hope starting to poke through the dark clouds. Maybe we could fix this.

"All right," I nodded, standing up. "Then let's find out where he stashes his chips."

"And steal me fifty," Dean agreed. "Benjamin Button me back into burger shape. What do you think?"

I looked down at him, and if it had been anyone other than Dean, I probably would have laughed. Especially since we were talking about going out in public. I got a flash of what married life in fifty years might be like, and joined the ranks of all the old married, nagging, wives: "I think you ought to put some clothes on," I pointed out, earning a frown in return. "Oh my god…" I added with a shake of my head.

"You know, babe, you keep saying that and there's not an orgasm in sight, I'm going to start getting a complex," Dean said as he stood up, causing Sam to spit out a mouthful of coke from the drink he was taking.

"Shut up!" I snapped.

* * *

 _ **Bathroom  
**_ **Dean's POV**

Beth wasn't impressed, and I didn't expect her to be. I was still kicking myself for jumping before I looked on this. I'd really screwed up, and I wasn't as convinced as the others on a happy ending for this job. I looked in the mirror and sighed at the wrinkled skin around my eyes. For an old guy, I didn't look too bad really, but the reality was I'd just aged fifty years in a day, there wasn't any getting around that. Our whole lives had just changed.

There was a knock on the door and I turned to see Beth poke her head into the room, easing in and shutting the door when I smiled at her. "Hey," I said, handing her my leather jacket. "Can you...can you help me with this?" She silently held the jacket up for me and I slipped my arms into it, allowing her to pull it up over my shoulders.

"Thanks… not as limber as I used to be," I said quietly. I didn't know what to tell her, what could I?

"What were you thinking?" She asked. I wasn't surprised by the question.

"I wasn't, okay? I screwed up," I answered.

"That's putting it mildly Dean!" She snapped.

"I'm sorry, okay?" I said. "I couldn't just leave Bobby hanging though. He's sacrificed enough for us already." It was true. There was something that broke in me, when I saw him age before my very eyes. He was a father to us, and I couldn't just watch him fade into oblivion like that.

"We could have figured out another way," she responded.

"And what? You played? Sam? No way. I'm the best poker player out of the lot of us," I said.

"It doesn't look like that right now. Jesus Dean…." Her eyes glittered in the light of the bathroom, and I sighed, resting my hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, hey, we're gonna fix this okay?"

"Are you trying to kill me?" She asked. I looked down into her eyes, confused by the question.

"What are you talking about?"

"Seriously, babe. How many times do I have to lose you?"

"You haven't lost me," I promised.

She pulled away from me, running a frustrated hand through her long hair, shaking her head. "We're in the middle of an … a freaking apocalypse Dean," she lowered her voice, it was shaking, "how far are you going to get in the body of a grandpa?"

"Hey, Sean Connery did okay for his age," I joked. Beth didn't find it funny.

"That's a movie Dean! He had stunt doubles, and script writers, and end scenes! This is real life! My life, your life, _our life!"_ Her voice had risen and she looked as if she wanted to pace the tiny bathroom, her eyes flicking around like a caged tiger. I grabbed her face, holding her still and staring into her eyes. She settled almost instantly, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh.

"I don't want to lose you."

I sighed, biting my lip. "Feels like you've had to say that a lot lately…" I could feel the sorrow in her, in me, it was as if it followed us around like a bad smell. "I'm sorry."

"I'm scared Dean," she whispered, her hands coming up to hold mine as they pressed into her cheeks.

"Me too," I admitted. "Okay? Me too. But we'll pull through this, just like always."

"And if we don't?"

"Then it looks like I'm retiring…" I said. Beth scoffed at me, rolling her eyes upward.

"Really," I insisted. "You, me, Minnesota." I thought about our benefactor and the home we had waiting because of his generosity, and groaned. "Man, Jefferson is gonna never let me live this down."

"I think Jefferson is the least of your problems," she responded, which got me to thinking. A crazy blonde flashed into mind and I cringed. I took a step back, running a hand through my hair.

"Oh man, Cole! She will kick my ass!"

"God I hate it when you joke about this stuff!" Beth snapped.

"Oh, hey, come on," I soothed, reaching out to her again. "Beth. It'll be okay, I promise." She shook her head at me, I cupped her cheek, caressing it lightly before sliding my hand around her waist and pulling her curves in against me. My mind couldn't help but wander, with the closeness of her, and I slid a hand down to cup her left buttock, squeezing it lightly.

"You know, there is one thing that still works," I murmured into her ear, feeling myself respond to her proximity. "Ever wonder what it's like to be with an older man?"

"Oh my god, Dean!" Beth snapped, pushing me away. I groaned as I hit my ass against the sink, feeling my hip bruise a little. "You're impossible. Let's go!" She said, throwing her hands in the air and walking out of the bathroom.

"What?" I asked, following her out, looking at Sam who was smirking at me. "What'd I say?"

There was a knock at the door, and I went to answer it since I was already moving that way. On the other side was a pretty young maid, arms loaded with towels.

"Ready for housekeeping, sir?" She asked with a smile. I grinned at her.

"Born ready," I said, getting a laugh in reply. The girl walked past me into the room, looking at me as if she was placating me.

"You're just like my grandfather," she said. The smile fell from my face. "He hits on anything that moves, too.

You're adorable."

"And dangerous," I pointed out.

Another laugh and I looked over at Sam and Beth who were watching with their arms crossed. I sighed, taking a few steps toward the Impala. "Can we just go?"

* * *

 _ **Downtown  
**_ **Beth's POV**

We'd decided to start by staking out the last place we'd seen Patrick - the bar. We were sitting in Bobby's van, all four of us, like some really bad comedy gone wrong - me in between the two grumpy men, and Sam in the back, leaning forward on the seat to peer through the windshield. My heart jumped into my throat as soon as Dean pointed out the Irishman exiting the building. He walked straight ahead on to the road. He was looking at his watch, not the traffic, and without warning a car slammed right into him. I jumped, not expecting it.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, watching in shock as the driver, a young man, jumped out of the car and hurried to check on Patrick. After a moment, he stood up and ran toward a nearby construction crew, calling for assistance.

I was so intent on watching the interactions with the crew, that I didn't see Patrick stand up and hop into the fancy car that had hit him. But I wasn't nearly as surprised as the driver and the crew who had witnessed the accident when Patrick drove off in the vehicle, a big smile on his face.

Dean laughed, and shook his head. "I got to say, I kind of like the guy." Bobby eased the van on to the street and followed.

Several hours later we were still sitting in front of an apartment building. I'd wandered in, done a little investigating, and found that Patrick was currently occupying a suite on the third floor. It would be another hour before the man left again, getting into the same car that he'd stolen from the man who had hit him earlier, and drove away.

Within minutes we were inside the lobby, for the first time I noticed something that I didn't when I'd come in earlier. The elevator was out of order. Bobby sighed. "Well, I'm out."

I exchanged a look with Sam that said I wasn't sure Dean was even going to make it up to the top of the building, but I wasn't about to say it aloud. The stairs were no issue for Sam or I, we took them quickly, jogging lightly as we moved. I looked behind me to see Dean lagging behind, taking one step at a time.

"Dean," Sam snickered, rolling his eyes. With a gesture he pointed to the sign at the landing - "2" - Dean glared and renewed his efforts with more vigor. We reached the next floor without Dean having a heart attack, and I thought us quite lucky. If this wasn't reversible, I really didn't see how retirement wasn't out of the question. Dean joined Sam and I in the hallway, his breathing hard and erratic, I felt a little sorry for him, because his heart had been in the right place when he'd done this _stupid, stupid_ thing, but I was still angry at his impulsiveness.

The apartment itself was not stand out impressive. Simple, it held the basic furnishings you'd find in any motel or long-term boarding house - table, chairs, couch, television. The armoire tucked against a wall caught my attention. Dean must have thought it odd too, because he was currently rummaging through it. He paused, knocked on the back, and then after moving a few things aside opened a false back.

"A safe," I said, smiling.

"Dime-store model. Piece of cake," Dean said. He turned the dial, squinting and then started to do a chicken dance with his neck, leaning in and out. I frowned, looking at Sam.

"It's like _Mission: Pathetic,_ " Sam announced. "Can you even see the numbers?"

"Here, let me," I said, edging in to the dial. Within seconds I had the safe open, and we all looked inside to find it almost full with poker chips.

"I could have done that," Dean insisted as Sam started to grab handfuls of chips.

"What are you doing?" A woman's voice sounded. I jumped, reaching for my gun.

"Aren't you the chick from the bar?" Dean asked after a moment.

"I'm a lot more than that," she said. She threw her hand out in front, clenching it into a fist. I felt a pain stab through my chest and cried out, dropping my gun on to the floor as I doubled over. There was a sound of someone approaching from the other direction and I looked up in time to see Patrick put a hand on the woman's arm.

"It's alright, sweetheart. It's alright. They're harmless," he said. The woman released her hold and I gasped for breath, letting Dean pull me to my feet.

"You boys want chips? Take 'em. They're just chips, Einsteins. It's showmanship. This may come as a shock, but the magic does not lie in a pile of crappy plywood or in any phony abracadabra. It's in the nine-hundred-year-old witch. You want years? Score 'em the old-fashioned way. Texas hold 'em," Patrick said.

"Fine. Let's do it," Dean said. I gaped at him, contemplated pulling my gun _on him._

The Irishman seemed to be of a similar mind. He pulled an eight of hearts out of his pocket and held it in the air. "What card am I holding up?"

Dean squinted at the card, didn't answer.

"That's what I thought. If your eyesight's that bad, what about your memory? I'm not a murderer," he said, turning to look at me. "You, on the other hand…you I'd be happy to give a few years for free."

"Get away from her, you… you… man-witch!" Dean snapped, stepping in front of me.

"Dean," I said, contemplating the offer.

"No!"

"Oh, let me guess, wife?" Patrick asked. "Interesting." He looked past us to the man standing silently behind us. "What about you? Big, strapping young lad."

"No, Sam," I shook my head.

"Beth," Sam growled.

"What, Sam not much of a player? Okay, well, happy trails, Dean. Enjoy the twilight of your life. Should have taken better care of that ticker, though," Patrick said, walking to the door and opening it. "You're free to go."

With a scowl, Dean made the first good decision he'd made all day - he walked away, and I followed quickly after. "Oh, but Sam…" Patrick said as we passed him. "Your brother's situation—that's punishment enough, but I can't let you leave without a small parting gift." He clapped three times then looked at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked the man, in spite of all the danger we were in, I seemed to have a death wish - Dean looked at me with a stern frown, telling me I was pushing our luck, but Patrick simply smiled.

"He'll find out soon enough. You on the other hand," he looked at Dean, shook his head sympathetically, "well, I think you've got your punishment coming."

"Let's get out of here," Dean said, pulling on my arm. Patrick closed the door behind us and I hesitated, wanting to go back in. I teetered on the edge of insanity, all the options running through my head. "Beth, come on." Dean's voice snapped me back into the moment and I nodded, hurrying to catch up to the brothers.

By the time we reached the bottom floor, I was almost beside myself with anxiety. How the hell were we going to get out of this? Sam scratched at the inside of his thighs, and Dean glanced at him with a chuckle.

"Dude," he said as Sam scratched again. "I believe that he-witch gave you the clap."

Sam froze for a moment, silent, glaring. Then without a response he marched across the road to the van where Bobby was waiting. I grimaced, and Dean laughed, a lot less sympathetic.

* * *

 _ **Later that night**_

Dean and Bobby had taken the beds and fallen asleep after a few hours of us all arguing back and forth about what we were going to do. Sam had gone to find his own room, fed up with the grumpy old men routine, and I wouldn't have been far behind if I'd had a choice. I knew that it would hurt Dean more than what had already happened, if I left, so here I was watching them both snoring away as they slept soundly.

Slipping on my boots, I grabbed my key and phone, pocketing them as I exited the room, walking down the corridor to Sam's door. He answered on the second knock, still dressed and alert.

"What took you so long?" He asked with a grin.

"Sam… do you know how long it takes old men to get ready for bed?" I asked, shaking my head and pushing past him into the room. "There's toilet breaks, and pyjama malfunctions, moaning and groaning about lumpy beds, who wants the light on, who wants it off - the same for the TV, last minute hunger pangs, and then another toilet break because the prostate is playing up…. I swear, if we don't fix Dean, I'll kill him myself."

It wasn't entirely true, we all knew that, but frustration levels were high. I could feel the icy clutch of desperation starting to grab at my chest.

Sam looked thoughtfully at me as I threw myself onto the couch with a loud sigh, resting my head against the back. "How are you, really?"

"I dunno," I admitted. "Freaked out."

"I bet."

"You know I never thought life with Dean would be easy," I said, sitting up to look at him. "I mean, really, our lives are _messed up."_ Sam nodded his agreement, sitting down next to me.

"But?"

"But, I guess I didn't think he was stupid enough to add to that mess," I said quietly, looking down at my hands.

"He was just trying to do the right thing by Bobby," Sam reasoned.

"I know," I said with a nod. "I know. And that is the single, biggest issue we have in this family isn't it? We do stupid things to save those we love from death."

Sam sucked in a breath, trying not to show me the sting of that statement, and then his mouth twisted up in irony. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Sammy," I said, shaking my head. "We've all done it. We've all been _the reason_ someone else did it. You, me, _Dad…_ Dean's not alone in making the mistakes. I just thought…"

"You thought he'd give it more consideration given you've both been talking about starting a family," Sam finished.

I felt my mouth open and close, but no words came out. He'd said it, right there in the open hanging between us - the real crux of the problem. Now, if we didn't fix Dean, none of that would ever come to be. I twisted my hands together, fingers running over my wedding ring as I nodded and glanced up at him through dry eyes.

"We'll fix this, Beth, I promise," Sam said.

"How?"

"I'm going to play him," Sam answered.

"But Sam, what happens if you lose?!"

"I'm not going to lose," he said confidently.

"I'm sure Dean thought that too," I replied. But there was something in Sam's eyes, a determination, a knowing.

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked, looking up at him.

"You can't tell Dean," he said quietly.

"Tell him what?"

"I've been losing to him in poker, deliberately, for years," he admitted.

I jerked my head up to look at him. "You've… what?!"

"He's always so sure about being the best player… well… I didn't want to burst his bubble," Sam replied.

I could see the truth in his statement. It was such a Sam thing to do to save Dean's ego. We all did it from time to time: because in spite of his gruff exterior, Dean was more sensitive than all of us - he just hid it better, turned the rejection into fuel for his hunting.

"You really think you can beat this guy?" I asked. He nodded.

"I don't know Sam, beating Dean is one thing… this guy is good."

"I've got a plan," he said, "and I'm going to need you to help pull it off."

"But Sam… if you lose..."

"Look, if I lose we might as well go all in," Sam said recklessly. I frowned. "Don't tell me you're not thinking it," he continued. "If we can't get back Dean's years, you can't tell me you wouldn't join him."

I bit my lip. He was right, I had been thinking just that. I'd been thinking I'd play Patrick regardless, get what years I could out of him, if any, and then even the age out between Dean and I. At least we'd be together, and too old to hunt, too old to do anything other than live out the rest of our lives in relative peace - aches, pains and all.

"I go where he goes," I said finally, and Sam nodded.

"That's what I figured."

"I really do want that family, Sam," I blurted out before I could stop myself. "I know it's a stupid, crazy pipe dream, but it's there. I look at Ben and Lisa, and I…"

"You want that," Sam said with a nod. "It's perfectly normal, Beth."

"It's not for us," I said, shaking my head. "Not while we're in the hunt."

"You guys managed to get out for a little while before," Sam said, reaching out and taking my hand. "I know I screwed up, I'm the reason you're back in, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way," he added.

"I'm not sure Dean is really capable of settling down," I admitted.

"Didn't you tell me he started a vegetable garden? I think he'll surprise you," Sam said. "Dean is more … maternal… than any of us. Certainly more than Dad ever was, he raised me, after all. He wants to make you happy, Beth, and I know he thinks promising you a family and getting out is what will accomplish that." I nodded, and he continued, "but we both know that you're happy anywhere he is."

I looked up sharply, he stared at me, daring me to argue. "This dream? The white picket fence, the kids, the normal life? That's Dean's dream, Beth. Surely you see that?"

I hadn't.

I shook my head, almost overcome by the thought. "No, no… that's what I…"

"Who brought it up in the beginning?"

I thought about it, I couldn't even remember. I'd definitely started thinking it when we met Lisa and Ben, but it hadn't been a conscious desire that I'd voiced.

"I guess, I think it was him, when I was pregnant," I said.

"Dean's been looking for a _reason_ to get out for years, Beth." Sam said. "The baby was a good reason, one that made it look less like it was his idea, and more of a … necessity. Beth, he just wants an ordinary life with you. Why do you think he's been so angry with me all these years? I got out, I found it - even if it was only for a short while. I got what he couldn't have with you."

"But he's always so… cheerful. He loves the road, loves being on the move," I said.

"He loves being with you," Sam countered. "He loves that car, and yes, the drive - but you guys can take road trips. Hell, go to the Grand Canyon and actually do something that doesn't involve a hunt. He's content with our life, as it is, but he isn't happy."

"You've been giving this a lot of thought," I commented. He nodded.

"I don't know what's going to happen with the Apocalypse, but I am responsible. I feel like I need to help clean it up, whatever it takes. But you two, you should both get out now, go have that baby, move into the house in Minnesota properly, get jobs." I scrunched up my nose at that and he laughed.

"It's not that easy…. Michael…."

"Will always be looking for you guys. So maybe don't go to Minnesota, go to Cicero, be near Ben and develop that family too. Be a part of the real world, Beth, not just on the periphery."

"Peripheral living," I murmured. "You're right, that's what we do."

"It's not living," Sam said. "Not really."

* * *

 _ **Motel  
Next Day**_

 **Dean's POV**

Dawn hadn't helped the situation we were in, none of us had spoken through breakfast, and I was starting to think maybe Sam _would_ have to play Patrick, which would be a disaster. There was really only one other option, because I wasn't letting Beth near him… and that was to play him again myself. Which was a live or die scenario, literally.

I pushed open the door to the motel, heading inside with Sam following behind me. I had to put a little effort into the walk these days, I wasn't loving it - that was for sure. There was a grunt in the back and then Bobby snapped.

"Little help here?" He asked. I glanced back to see him struggling to get up the incline leading to the foyer. Beth gasped and hurried to assist.

"You know, I still think I should play," Sam insisted. I stopped as we reached the elevator, waiting for Beth and Bobby to join us.

"No, no, no. You're not good enough. I'm better. Besides, he seemed to like me, I should make the deal," Beth cut in, looking at Sam. I saw red.

"No more deals! Look where that gets us! I'm good. Bobby's way better. We both lost," I pointed out. I had been certain I'd win, how the hell was Sam or Beth going to?

"Exactly," Bobby chimed in.

"So…. what?" Beth asked, crossing her arms as Bobby took over the pushing of his chair and we got into the elevator. "I don't get a say in this anymore?"

I sighed, trying not to snap at her. "Bethie, when you get to be our age…"

"You're thirty, Dean! And I've watched you hustle plenty of poker…" she countered. I grimaced. Watching me? I loved her, but she was out of her mind.

"Knowing the game is not enough, Beth. It's not about playing the cards," Bobby said, I nodded enthusiastically.

"It's about playing the other guy. We know that," Sam cut in.

"Well, hooray for you," Bobby retorted. "All I'm saying is, I played this guy. I know his style. I can take him."

"No, Bobby. You don't have enough years in the bank," I reasoned as the doors to the elevator opened to our floor. I stepped out, Bobby right behind me, followed by the suicidal twins.

"I got enough," he said.

"No, you'll die if you lose, Bobby," Beth said. I wanted to laugh, she was talking about throwing away her life as much as he was.

"So what if I do, huh? What exactly am I living for, huh? The damn apocalypse? Watching men die bloody while I sit in this chair, can't take a step to help 'em?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby…"

"No, no. It's the facts. I'm old...and broke down...and I can't…" I stopped, taking a few breaths filled with what looked like heartache to me. He looked up at us all, sadness in his eyes. "I ain't a hunter no more. I'm useless. And if I wasn't such a coward, I'd have stuck a gun in my mouth day I got home from the hospital."

No one spoke. What was there to say to that? I considered that I might need to give Cole a call, tell her what was going on with her Dad, get some help because he couldn't refuse hers - no matter how hard he'd try. Then Sam broke out of his revelry.

"Bobby, you are not playing again. I'm not letting you do that. There's another way out of this. There's got to be. And I'm gonna find it," he insisted, exchanging a glance with Beth who nodded and walked past us all to open the door to our room.

She stepped inside and I hurried to follow, hoping to steal her away for a moment and have a chat about what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. But as we entered, she stopped short. I felt Bobby's chair hit me in the back of the knees and groaned, moving us both so he could enter.

Beth was staring at the woman sitting on the bed. Patrick's witch-friend. She looked up at us with emerald green eyes, her long blonde hair curling around her slumped shoulders. She looked sad. Looking at Beth, she stood up, extending her arm and holding out a piece of paper.

"Take it. It'll help you," she said.

"What is it?" Beth asked, grasping the paper in her fingers and glancing down at it. I looked over her shoulder, seeing neat handwriting in a list of ingredients, followed by an incantation in another language.

"The most powerful reversal spell you've ever laid your eyes on," she said. Beth's head shot up.

"And it reverses what, exactly?"

"Patrick's work - all of it," she replied. I froze, could she be for real?

"You—you saying I could be normal again?" I asked.

"You and everyone else he's ever played," she said, pausing for a moment and then shrugging. "Who's still alive." Oh man. Cliff was gonna hate me, I thought to myself.

"Why the hell should we trust you?" I asked.

"Trust me, don't trust me. I don't care. The spell is real," she said, taking a few steps toward the door.

"If it zaps everyone, don't that include your man?" Bobby asked.

"And me, too," she said. "I look good for my age."

"Lady, this don't add up for squat. Why would you want that?" Bobby demanded to know.

"I have my reasons," she said, looking down at the silver locket hanging around her neck. "Do it quick. We leave town tomorrow."

As she left the room, Beth chased after her. I cursed, finding them at the elevator, looking each other in the eyes.

"What's your name?" Beth asked.

"Lia," she replied.

"Why are you doing this?"

Lia smiled, taking Beth's hand and looking at her palm, tracing a line on it. "You've been a mother, you know loss," she said as I reached them. She looked up at me. "You both do." I nodded. "Well, I've lost more than I ever knew possible."

She reached up and opened her locket, there was a faded photograph on one side of a little girl, on the other side an old wrinkled woman. "My daughter," she said. "When I buried her, she looked like this," the sentence ended with the tapping of a perfectly manicured nail against the old woman's photo. "It's not natural."

"You never aged," Beth said, biting her lip and looking at me.

"There are worse things than growing old," the witch replied. "I knew when I joined Patrick, what the deal was, and I was okay with it. But I'm not anymore. I'm tired. And even I'm not so blind as to be ignorant to the destiny you both carry, one that Patrick seems perfectly willing to overlook."

"Destiny?" I asked. "What, as some angel's meatsuit?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "More than that, Dean. But it's not my place to say. Everything is revealed as it needs to be," she continued, turning to look at Beth. "You know that, don't you?" Beth nodded and I wondered just what on earth I'd missed in this chick heart to heart.

"Do the spell,"Lia repeated. "Before it's too late."

* * *

 _ **Bar  
**_ **Sam's POV**

When I arrived at the bar, I had a whirlwind of things running through my mind. I had my doubts about this spell, but Beth was determined to see it through and leave our plan as the back-up play if needed. I spotted Patrick right away, sitting at a table with an older man. As I approached, Patrick looked up and smiled, speaking at me.

"What are you up—like thirteen years there, Hesh? What do you say we call it a day?" The older man chuckled and nodded, cradling his chips up to himself like they were gold.

"Thanks, Patrick," he said with a nod.

"Hesh here is gonna live to see his granddaughter's bat mitzvah. Isn't that right, Hesh?" Patrick said to me. Hesh looked up at me, nodded and then turned back to the Irishman.

"Thanks again, Patrick."

"Shalom, my friend," Patrick replied with a smile. With that, Hesh departed, and I found myself confused.

"That was nice of you," I commented, gesturing to the man who had just gained about a dozen years.

"I'm a nice guy," Patrick said, raising his eyebrow at me and starting to shuffle the cards in his hands. "What can I do for you?"

I sat down at the table, looking him squarely in the eye as he chewed on a toothpick and looked nonchalantly back at me.

"Deal," I said.

"No sister? I rather liked her," Patrick commented. "And… I'm willing to bet she's a better player than you."

I smirked. I didn't think so, but what did it matter what he thought? "She's the last straw," I said. Patrick laughed, shaking his head.

"You sure are a strange family."

"You don't know the half of it," I admitted. "Deal."

* * *

 _ **Graveyard**_

 **Beth's POV**

If there was one thing Bobby had managed to get out of after losing the use of his legs, it was grave robbing. Here we were, doing my least favourite thing yet again, and I had two grumbling old men to help with it.

"Jawbone of a murderer. Great," Dean muttered to himself as he drove his shovel into the dirt. His breathing was hard and choppy, he was making half the impact that I was in the grave.

"You know, this really sucks. How do we even know her spell's gonna work?" He asked, leaning against the handle of his shovel.

"We don't. But we ain't got a Plan B. Now, less flappin' and more diggin'," Bobby said. I threw another two scoops of dirt out of the grave as Dean sighed, picking up his shovel and ramming it into the ground. Something cracked and Dean cried out, "Oh, God!" He leaned over, moaning slightly. "My elbows! I'm all creaky."

"Hurry up, you crybaby," Bobby chastised. I bit my tongue and tried not to giggle at the pair of them. They hadn't stopped the whole time we'd been here, and it had been a long twenty minutes from where I was standing.

"Pound it up your ass, Ironsides," Dean snapped back.

"One little grave," Bobby teased.

"Then you do it," Dean countered as I tossed a couple more shovels of dirt up and out of the hole we were digging. It seemed to me that I was the only one digging the grave here, but I wasn't about to point that out. I didn't want to end up buried in the grave I'd dug.

"Fine. I'll hop right in," Bobby retorted.

"Well, least your legs are numb," Dean muttered.

"Shut up and dig, Grandma," Bobby replied. Dean growled and pulled his shovel out of the dirt, ramming it back down. He cried out again.

"Oh! Now it's my back!"

"Can you straighten up?" Bobby asked. Dean tentatively flexed his back, bending over and then standing up straight a couple of times.

"Yeah, but a little sympathy wouldn't hurt," Dean whined.

"Butt cheek tingling?" Bobby asked.

Dean paused, looking a little amazed at the question, which indicated to me that _something_ was going on down there. "Well, that's kind of personal," he said finally. I snorted, shaking my head.

"You still love me, right babe?" Dean asked, looking hopefully at me. I smirked and kept digging as I nodded.

"'Til death do us part," I said. Dean smiled, looking pleased at the reply until he remembered his age.

"Hey, we didn't say that!" He reminded me.

"Yeah, baby girl, you are stuck with this crybaby for all eternity now," Bobby pointed out. I stopped digging, looking over at Dean. Even for an old dude, he wasn't especially unattractive - he had been kind of right, he did have that whole Sean Connery thing going on.

"Could be worse…." I said finally, checking out Dean's ass as he started to dig once more.

"Yeah, you could be diggin' too. What are you standing there for?" Bobby said.

"Enjoying the view, he's still got an ass," I replied, getting an eyeroll from the man looking down on us. Dean looked pleased with my comment, wriggled his ass in my direction and then groaned again as he pulled something new.

"It's sciatica," Bobby said. "You'll live. Keep digging."

"You know, Bobby, killing you is officially on my bucket list," Dean said as his spade hit the ground at our feet once more.

* * *

 _ **Behind Bar  
**_ **Beth's POV**

I was impatiently pacing in the alley when Sam burst out the back door where deliveries were generally made. He looked around, and hurried down the couple of steps when he spotted me.

"How's it going in there?" I asked.

He scoffed, looking at me with more confidence than I felt. "How do you think it's going? What about you? You have everything you need?"

"We still need a little he-witch DNA," I pointed out, hoping he'd managed to get the job done. This was Plan A, if we had to get to Plan B or Heaven forbid, Plan C, the proverbial shit would have hit the fan. Sam held out his hand, in it was a toothpick. I glanced curiously at it, raising my eyebrow.

"He was chewing on it," Sam explained. I nodded and took it from him. "Hurry up, Beth. Please."

"All right," I said. "Just keep him busy." I started to walk down the alley and turned around. "And, Sammy... " He looked up at me, "...don't lose." Sam sighed, nodded curtly and then went back inside, leaving me alone in an alley with a toothpick and a prayer.

"Beth!" Dean called out to me from the end of the alley. "C'mon!" Jogging back to him, I held up the toothpick and he looked skeptically at me. "Really?"

"That's what he said, let's go," I replied, and we crossed the street to the Impala. I opened the trunk, selecting silver bullets from the inner armory.

"I don't like this," Dean said, frowning at me.

"Well, we need a Plan B," I insisted, loading my glock's mag with the bullets and sliding the clip back into place. "You and Bobby do the spell, and if…" I could barely bring myself to say it. "... if it doesn't work, we'll see how much this witch likes silver."

"It's a long shot," Dean said.

"Everything we do is a long shot," I replied. "We live our lives by them."

"That should be title of our autobiography," Dean chuckled, he waved his hand out in front of him like he was headlining a stage " _The Long Shot,"_ he said. " _The 101 to cheating death and killing monsters"_ I couldn't help but smile at that. Dean's mirth fell from his face when I tucked the gun into the back of my waistband.

"You sure?" He asked, I nodded my reply. "Okay, I'll get Bobby and do this." He stepped in closer, and I bit my lower lip, feeling nervous about the plan, but determined to see it through. With a quirky grin, he lifted my chin and dipped his head down to mine. I didn't know what to expect, given he was now old enough to be my grandfather, but at the end of the day his lips were the same. I closed my eyes, slipping my arms around him as he slowly caressed my tongue with his own, finally breaking apart when I let out a little moan.

"I love that moan," he whispered.

"Call me when you're done," I said, kissing him quickly as he climbed into the Impala.

"I will," he promised, "be careful."

* * *

Twenty minutes later my phone was ringing.

" _It didn't work, that son of a bitch must have switched out the toothpicks!"_ Dean exclaimed over the phone. I sighed, looking up at the bar, and stepped out from behind the tree I'd been waiting by. If he'd done that, he also knew we were up to something, and that did not give us the element of surprise. It was time for Plan B.

"Okay," I said. "I'm going to get Sam."

" _Beth, I don't know about this,_ " Dean's voice was concerned.

"I'll call you when we're out," I replied, snapping my phone shut and sticking it into my pocket.

I hurried across the street and into the bar, taking the steps into the basement section two at a time.

Patrick and Sam were sitting at a table on their own when I came through the inner door, Lia standing nearby. Patrick looked up at me, a twinkle in his eye and winked. As I approached, he held up a toothpick and looked at Sam. "Question," he said as I got closer, Sam's back to me. "Is this what you meant to give your sister?"

Sam, commendably, didn't seem to react. Lia flicked a glance at the toothpick in Patrick's hand, but also kept her cool. "The one you gave him never passed my lips. Won't do a scrap of good." He looked up at me, as did Sam, when I stepped up alongside them.

"Sam…" I reached out for the latter, my hand coming to rest on his shoulder and squeezing slightly to tell him things hadn't gone well.

"I don't like cheating, Sam," Patrick said, stretching out a hand and then clenching it. I felt my windpipe close up, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. I dropped to my knees beside Sam, who looked alarmed, catching me in his arms, and helping me onto a chair.

"Beth!"

I gasped for air, thinking we might be moving to Plan C earlier than anticipated, when Lia stepped in.

"Stop it!" She cried out, grabbing Patrick's wrist. "Patrick, let her go!"

"They tried to kill us!" Patrick snapped, his magical grip still tight on my neck.

"I did it! I gave them the spell!" Lia said. Patrick looked at her, shocked, and dropped his arm. I gulped in a lungful of air as Sam checked me over.

"What?" Patrick asked, standing up and touching Lia's face, trying to determine her motivation. "Why...why would you do that?"

"You know why," she said, a hand absently lifting up to touch the silver locket around her neck. "You know."

Patrick looked thoughtfully at her for a moment and then seemed to make a decision, resuming his position across the table from Sam, and now myself.

"Keep. Playing," he said stiltedly.

"No," I said, glancing at Lia, then Patrick. "No he's out, we're done."

"Beth," Sam said in a warning tone.

"No, I told you this was crazy, Sam," I insisted, grabbing at his wrist. "You're gonna get yourself killed."

"You want to take a hand, feel free," Patrick offered.

"No," Sam said, shaking his head and pushing a couple of chips to the centre of the table. "Not her. Play."

I got up, moved away from the table, and called Dean. "You need to find something else," I said. "And quick."

 _"I'm in his apartment, It's too damn clean in here. First witch I ever heard of didn't spew bodily fluids all over the place,"_ Dean said. I grimaced, looking back at Sam and Patrick.

 _"Uh, you never did tell me how Sam was planning to distract Patrick,"_ Dean said. _"He's not playing is he?"_

"What? No...of course not, they're talking, Patrick's trying to convince him…"

 _"You are such a bad liar,"_ Dean cut in. _"But not as bad as Sam's poker skills."_

"If that's the case, there still might be hope," I said, watching as Sam stacked five chips next to another five near the pile. "Keep looking, I'd rather not test my silver bullet theory unless we're really out of every other option." I hung up and moved back to Sam and Patrick.

"Well, look at you—the percentage player betting the farm. Awful transparent of you, Sam. I mean, if I had a monster hand like you have, I'd trap you. But you get so excited, you bet yourself right out of a big pot." Patrick sniffed and picked up his face-down cards. "I fold," he said, discarding them. "Set of ladies, I'm guessing."

Sam collected about a dozen chips from the pot, and turned over his cards, I kept my face deliberately calm as he revealed a three of clubs and a five of diamonds. Patrick's hand was a pair of queens. The witch smirked as Sam stacked his chips.

"Nice bluff. If we had time, I could make a real player out of you."

"I got time," Sam said. Patrick grinned.

"Maybe. But I can't say the same for Dean," he commented, looking at me. "Your husband's gonna be dead soon." Sam looked up at me, and I tried struggled to keep my cool.

"Call him," Patrick said. "When I say 'soon'...I mean minutes."

Sam's face changed, suddenly full of fear. He went to stand and leave, but Patrick reached out with his witchcraft, yanking on him and forcing him to sit. "I said, _call him!"_ This was directed at me.

I swallowed and picked up my phone, putting it to my ear, exchanging a concerned look with Sam.

"The game's not over till I say it is. Blinds," Patrick said, slapping down two chips and Sam one.

"Dean?!" I said a little urgently into the phone, looking at Sam when he turned his attention from the game to me. "Sam… something's wrong," I said warningly.

Patrick dealt two face-down cards to him and Sam. The latter glanced at his, and then added another chip to the pot. There was the slightest, and I mean _slightest,_ twitch to Sam's jaw which had my mind whirling. I set my face to try and counter the fear I was feeling run through me.

"So," Patrick said, smugly slapping three cards down and spreading them out: the ace of spades and fours of hearts and clubs. Sam eyed the cards. "Good to know."

"Go to Hell," Sam snarled at him, he shoved all his chips into the middle of the table. I grabbed his arm, looking at him in alarm.

"Are you crazy?!" I snapped. "No, you can't."

"You said to do something, Beth!" Sam exclaimed breathlessly. "I'm doing something!"

"I didn't mean this!"

"I know what I'm doing!" He snapped.

"No you don't!"

Sam glared at me. "All in," he added, looking at the Irishman.

"Listen to your sister, don't do that, Sam," Patrick said.

"I can't leave until it's over? Fine. It's over. Now, leave my brother alone, where is he?" Sam said.

"Dean?" I asked into the phone. "Can you hear me?" There was nothing on the other side, I shook my head at the man sitting next to me, Sam's breathing had gotten faster, he was starting to panic.

"Look, there's poker and then there's suicide," Patrick said.

"He's right, Sam," I insisted.

Sam ignored me, stared Patrick in the eye. "Just play the hand."

Patrick smirked and then added all his chips to the pot, sitting back and taking in the pair of us. "Fine."

He discarded a card, and then dealt a seven of diamonds, and then the nine of spades. I glanced at Sam, shaking my head furiously. "This is crazy Sam."

"I'm doing it for Dean," he said, looking at me, worried.

Patrick just looked smug - he knew he had us, he knew we were about to lose everything. He reached out, turned over his face-down cards: an ace of diamonds, and ace of clubs. "I'm sorry, kids. Aces full."

I stared at the cards. It was an unbeatable hand, almost. But I'd seen it, the tell, one that only Dean or I would know. Sam looked at the cards, let out a breath and then looked up at Lia who was crying as she stood behind Patrick. "You're crying," he said. She looked away, sniffling. Patrick and I stared as she shook her head.

"For a witch, you're so nice, it's actually kind of creepy," Sam said. I smiled at her.

"Lia, it's okay," I said softly, seeing her turn confused eyes to us. Sam looked at Patrick.

"It was a great hand," he said as Patrick moved to collect the chips. "Just…not as great as…" Sam turned over his face-down cards, and I closed my eyes in relief, seeing the fours of diamonds and spades join his collection. He'd known all along that he had a four of a kind.

"...as four fours," I finished for Sam, still holding the phone to my ear.

Patrick glanced up at Sam, and then down at the cards. Sam took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. With a smile, Patrick leaned back in his chair, nodding slowly. "Well played," he said, looking from Sam to me. "Both of you. You know, that whole...going-out-of-your-heads bit—very method." I smirked at him, holding up the phone and the blank screen, I'd never even dialled it.

"Well," Patrick said, raising his glass to me. "There's more to you than meets the eye."

Sam chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Yes, there is," he commented. "It might happen, but in the head of the moment, you won't actually _see_ her panic," he added.

"Interesting," Patrick said, looking curiously at me.

Sam nodded at the chips lying in the middle of the table. "Cash these in for Dean, please."

Patrick nodded, setting his drink down. "With pleasure."

* * *

 _ **Patrick's Apartment Building**_

 **Dean's POV**

My phone had rung a few times since the walk down the stairs. Bobby, and then Beth. I ignored them both, relishing the feel of having my 30-year old body back. I skipped out the front door of the lobby, looking across the road and seeing Sam and Beth pull up behind Bobby's van in a stolen car. It was a relief to actually be able to see across that road, now that I thought about it, my eyesight had been one of the first things to go as an eighty-year old.

Beth and Sam climbed out of the car, looking worriedly in my direction. I held out my arms, grinning at them and then did a little dance ,before jumping up and clicking my heels in the air. _Take that, Patrick!_

"Idjit," Bobby called out of the window at me. Beth laughed and then ran across the road, throwing herself into my arms. I chuckled, grabbing her tight and lifting her, spinning us around in circles. As I dropped her down to her feet, she kissed me, pulling me close. I groaned in reply, my hands coming up to bury into her hair at the base of her neck.

"So the silver bullets worked?" I asked, looking down at her.

"Ah, no," she laughed. "Sam won."

"He… he what?"

"He won," she repeated. "With a little drama acting from yours truly."

"Wait, you're saying that Sammy, _our little bumbling brother,_ just beat a centuries-old witch in poker?" Beth nodded with a smile. "When I didn't?"

"Guess you just don't know how to play the player," Sam called out as we got nearer.

"Shut up!" I snapped, frowning at him. I was not comfortable with this realisation at all.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room**_

 **Beth's POV**

"No tricks," Bobby was saying. "You actually beat the guy?" Sam laughed, spreading his arms out in a shrug. "How the Hell?"

"Just lucky," Sam smirked, heading for the door. Dean, walked in carrying a bag of take-out in one hand, a burger in the other. "Hey, I'll see y'all guys later."

"Where you going?" Dean asked, glancing at him curiously.

"Uh...mm, nowhere," Sam said. We all looked at him until he shifted uncomfortably. "A booster shot. Don't say it." He raced out the door before anyone could say anything. I smiled, watching as Dean closed the door behind him.

"Well, I guess we can get the van loaded," Bobby said. Dean held up a finger and cleared his throat, shaking his head.

"I shouldn't have called you an idiot," he said apologetically. My head shot up quickly, almost in shock - Dean rarely admitted when he was wrong to anyone other than me.

"Which time?" Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. I mean, I actually—I, I—I get it. Getting old ain't a bachelor party. And dealing with the crap you got to deal with…"

Bobby scowled, wheeled his chair closer to the door. "Don't you go on pity patrol."

"I'm not. I'm not. I'm just...I'm saying, you know, if I was in your shoes…"

"You'd never stop complaining," Bobby cut in. Dean stared at him for a moment and then looked to me for back-up. I shrugged and chuckled.

"He's kind of right," I said, moving to take the bag of burgers out of his hand, and kiss his cheek. Dean sighed, turning back to Bobby.

"Fair enough. You're not useless, Bobby," he said eventually.

"Okay. Good talk," Bobby said dismissively, attempting to roll toward the door. Dean stepped in his path, cutting him off and looking down sternly.

"No, wait a minute. Listen to me," he said, sitting down on the edge of the nearby bed, sighing. "You don't stop being a soldier 'cause you got wounded in battle. Okay? No matter what shape you're in, bottom line is, you're family. I don't know if you've noticed, but me, Beth and Sam, we don't have much left. I can't do this without you," he glanced up at me, his eyes softening. " _We_ can't do it without you. We can't. So don't you dare think about checking out. I don't want to hear that again."

The room fell silent. I shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with the conflict. I always had been.

"Okay," Bobby said finally.

"Okay," Dean said with a nod. "Good."

"Thanks," Bobby said. "Now, we done feeling our feelings? 'Cause I'd like to get out of this room before we both start growing lady parts…" he looked over at me. "No offence."

"Yeah, we're done," Dean said, standing up. He picked up his burger, looked at it, and then clearly decided on another path, putting it back down. I started to grab my bag from the other bed, but he shook his head, taking the straps and smiling at me.

"Let's go, Ironsides," he grinned at Bobby, slinging his own bag over his shoulder and then lifting mine with the other hand.

"Oh, that one's sticking, huh?" Bobby called out as Dean exited the room. Bobby sighed, looking back at me. "I dunno how you put up with him."

I laughed, watching Dean through the door as he walked toward the car. "He's not so bad when you get used to him," I said.

"Oh please, you were smitten with him from the day you met, John told me. Wasn't no getting used to him needed," Bobby said, wheeling his chair out the door. "Grab my bag, would ya? Put them lady parts to good use!"

I gaped, not sure what surprised me more. The uncharacteristically chauvinistic comment toward me, or the admission that John had known Dean and I had connected the day we met. Then I remembered, Dean and I had known each other a long, long time before we remembered meeting - thanks to Castiel wiping our minds, we lost that awareness, but the physical bond was still there. John had to have known that. Maybe that's why he'd been so hard on us all those years.

I sighed, picking up Bobby's bag and following him to the truck: we'd never know on that front, because the two people that could attest to our relationship pre-memory wipe were dead. God knew I'd grilled Jefferson enough on it, until he cried uncle.

In the end it didn't matter, we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

* * *

 _Later that night_

 _ **Motel Room**_

 **Beth's POV**

Dean had passed out hours ago, I was still awake, staring at the ceiling. Sam rolled over in the bed next to ours, and I moved on to my side, trying to get a better look in the dark. "Sam? Are you awake?" I whispered.

There was a pause, and then Sam rolled over to face me. "Yeah, you okay?"

"You were right," I said. "About Dean, and the dream to retire. But…"

"But?"

"You forgot something," I answered. "Retiring isn't about us, Sam. It's about you."

"Me? What about me?"

"I got to thinking, after we left the motel. All these years, Dean and I have been inexplicably wrapped up in each other's worlds, from the time I was eight we've been doing this dance." I paused, thinking about the day we met in the church.

"Earlier than that," Sam said. "Your mom said we spent time with you just after our mom died."

"That's right," I said thoughtfully. Sam had only been six months old, Dean and I didn't remember it, but if there was one thing my mother had told me during the time we'd gone back in time, it was about when Mary died, and Dean and I both helped look after Sam. When I joined them eight years later, following the death of my father, we'd been looking after him ever since.

"Which brings me to my point," I continued. "Sammy, this is all about you. We can't stop…. Not really… Not until you do."

Sam didn't respond. I lay in bed, waiting for him to say something. I knew he'd be computing what I'd said, running it through the logical side of him.

"You guys … you feel responsible for me," Sam said.

"Well duh, we love you Sam. And yeah, we have to take care of you, like it or not, it's our job." I said. "So when you tell me just to … quit hunting. Try to convince me that it's what Dean wants? You're not wrong. He does want to stop, he wants to give us a family, a life that Dad couldn't give you or him. But… he wants you to have that too Sammy, and well, we can't stop until you do."

* * *

 _He looked down at her, fidgeting with her rosary as she finished up her prayers. It had taken half the day, but he'd finally managed to pull her away so the dead body could be dealt with. "I can't believe it," she said softly as he crawled in next to her, wrapped an arm around her familiar figure like he'd been doing for over sixty years. He sighed, kissing her shoulder as she settled down to her side, so he could snuggle in and spoon. "How are you?" She asked, lacing her fingers through his. "Tired," he replied. "I'm tired." She nodded. "What are we going to do now?" She asked, he almost wanted to laugh. "We rest, sugarpie. I think we've earned it." She sighed, nodding quietly. "Where will we go?" He thought about it, squeezed her a little tighter. "We never did get to the Grand Canyon… how about a road trip?" She chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, okay. Road trip it is…" The next morning, they lay entwined together, unmoving, light smiles on their faces. Their daughter looked down with a bittersweet expression, turning watery eyes to the attendant. "Well," she said softly. "I guess they're on to their next journey, probably chasing Uncle Sam down to look after him too. They always did everything together. Why should this be any different?"_

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I sat up in a hurry, the images of the dream still vivid in my mind. The same dream had been playing on my mind for days, and had finally reached its conclusion. Sam looked up at me from the kitchen, the light from the window playing across the room. "Hey, Dean, you okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded, allowing the motel to settle around me. I was back to normal, still thirty, still had my life ahead of me. "Yeah, I'm good."

Beside me Beth stirred, rolling over and wrapping her arm around my midsection, just like I had done to her in the dream. I stroked her hair, and she smiled, wriggling in closer. "Weird dream," I said to Sam.

"Oh yeah, what about?"

"Uh… we uh, we died of old age, in some nursing home," I told him. Sam's mouth dropped open as he turned to look at us in the bed. "Crazy huh?"

"Yeah, uh, crazy," Sam agreed.

"Like we will ever live that long," I said, almost sadly. The dream, though melancholy, had an upside too… a long life with the people I loved.

"Well," Sam said. "You never know." I shook my head at the sudden change in attitude from him.

"Nah, you said it yourself, Sammy," I insisted. "We won't."

"Maybe I was wrong," Sam replied. He was arguing with me, typical.

"Figures, man. You're just trying to disagree with me for the sake of it, two nights ago you were singing about our untimely deaths," I muttered, reaching for a bottle of water on the nightstand, uncapping it and guzzling half the bottle.

"Yeah well, I been thinking, and I think we've still got a lot of living left in us," Sam pressed. He glanced down at Beth, and I followed his line of sight. My hand was resting on her back, and I tickled my fingers along her shoulder blades.

"I hope you're right, man," I said quietly. "I hope you're right."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: Young and Beautiful by Lana del Ray. Special mention to Lukas Graham's '7 Years' which also was a contender.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the update :) Please leave a review, it's always great to get encouragement.


	8. Sinners & Saints

**_AN:_** _This started out as an addition to_ Changing Channels _then took on a life of its own. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

 _I don't know where I'm at  
I'm standing at the back  
And I'm tired of waiting  
Waiting here in line, hoping that I'll find what I've been chasing._

 _I shot for the sky_  
 _I'm stuck on the ground_  
 _So why do I try, I know I'm gonna fall down_  
 _I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?_  
 _Never know why it's coming down, down, down._

 _Not ready to let go_  
 _Cause then I'd never know_  
 _What I could be missing_  
 _But I'm missing way too much_  
 _So when do I give up what I've been wishing for._

* * *

 **SINNERS & SAINTS**

* * *

 **The Day Before Halloween**

 **LISA'S HOUSE  
Cicero, Indiana**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

I hung the last of the little plastic black spiders on the fake cobwebs in the tree, and grinned. This was kind of fun. As the daughter of a minister, I'd never been allowed to indulge in Halloween the way that all my friends had.

Of course, now I understood that to be a hunter thing, not a minister thing. Dad had used it as an excuse, saying that we shouldn't encourage kids to dress as demons and go out into the world. And would hold special Halloween sermons for people to attend, rather than go trick-or-treating.

As a Hunter, I understood that he'd been trying to keep his community safe from the monsters that tended to come out on these nights. Glancing up at the dark moon in the sky, I said a quiet little prayer of thanks that at least we wouldn't have to worry about werewolves tomorrow tonight - that was one thing we could cross off the list. It still left a whole lot of other horrors to contend with.

Lisa was completely oblivious to this however, and was happily decorating the house with all manner of Halloween themes - witches, ghosts, vampires and pumpkins. We'd all had a go earlier with Ben, carving out pumpkins. Even Dean. It was a side of him I hadn't seen before.

John had definitely not allowed us to do anything Halloween-like. Instead, we'd been on patrol, every October 31st. Part of me always felt like we should be driving to the nearest cemetery at this time of year, and not resting until every last ghoul, revenant, or other creature was dead.

"Hot Chocolate?" Sam asked, walking out onto the porch carrying two mugs. I smiled and nodded, moving to intercept him of his chocolatey goodness.

Sam looked around at the porch with the flashing orange lights, flickering tealights in the pumpkins, and shook his head. "If Dad could see us now. He'd be rolling over in his grave."

"I'm itching to go patrolling the cemetery, to be honest," I confessed and Sam chuckled, shaking his head.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Aren't you?"

"No," Sam replied, his face growing sombre. "No, I gave up that particular Halloween ritual years ago."

I fell silent as Lisa walked up and took her mug from Sam. "I think we're done," she said cheerfully, looking around at the decked out porch.

"It looks great Lisa," Sam said with a smile.

"I love this time of year," Lisa replied with a chuckle, turning around to admire the houses across the road with their lights and decorations. "Don't you?"

I cringed, thinking about how Sam had lost Jess at this time of year, and then there was the Raising of Samhain all too recently… one of the seals holding Lucifer in his cage. Halloween. It had pretty much been a disaster for all of us.

"Yeah," Sam said with a smile, offering her the lies we told everyone. "It's always memorable…"

I reached out a hand and squeezed Sam's forearm, offering him a supportive smile. He nodded back at me, and I knew he was okay. Lisa continued to talk about the neighbourhood and what they did each year, as we listened in polite silence.

I was glad Dean had taken Ben out to the local ball game, he'd have been a lot more vocal about the dangers of Halloween. In fact, I was waiting for the inevitable head-butting to come later in the evening, when Dean found out that Lisa was planning to take Ben trick-or-treating.

* * *

 **BALL PARK  
CICERO, INDIANA**

 **Dean's POV**

Ben had been pretty quiet during the match, we'd gotten corn dogs and sodas, and all the merchandise you could for the local team, yet he was as silent as someone at a funeral. Minus the crying and all that girl stuff.

"Hey kiddo," I said as we walked back to the car, "penny for your thoughts?"

"Eh, nothing," he replied.

"Awww c'mon, don't be like that, something's on your mind obviously," I said. "You can talk to me."

Ben hesitated, stopping about twenty yards short of the Impala. He glanced over at an open space nearby and took his glove and ball, dropping his bag and other gear under a tree. He gestured at me to put on my glove, and I did so with a nod, punching the inner leather. As we tossed the ball back and forth I struggled to find the words to get him to open up.

"So what's going on?"

"Did you ever love mom?" He threw the ball and I was so astounded by the question I forgot to move, grimacing as it hit my chest. I frowned, leaning down to grab it, and then stood up.

"Uh, Ben, look. I like your mom a lot," I said carefully. "Believe me, she's a great girl, and she deserves only the best."

"But you never loved her, not like you do Beth," he cut in. I sighed, watching him, seeing the desire for the truth written all over his face. I cringed, feeling my heart start to beat a little faster. I opened my mouth and then shut it when no words came out.

I looked at Ben, internally struggling with whether or not to lie. If there was one thing I hated more than anything, it was having to lie to him. With all the secrets Dad had kept from us over the years, I was keen to be upfront with him - much to both Beth and Lisa's despair.

"No buddy, I didn't. Not like that. I'm sorry," I said finally.

He nodded, looking down at his glove.

"What's this all about?" I asked, crossing the space between us and grasping his shoulder in my hand. "I've never lied to you Ben, and I'll tell you anything you want to know. The truth. You just gotta ask."

He looked up at me. "What about me?"

"You?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, you don't love mom… but…" It hit me like a tonne of bricks, and was suddenly scrambling to give this little guy the reassurances he needed.

"Hey, hey hey hey, hang on a minute," I said, kneeling down so I was more at his level. "You are a whole different ballgame, Ben." I licked my lips, searching for the right words. "I might not have known about you, but… from the minute I did, I wanted to get to know you. To be here for you, in whatever form you want me to be. Me, Beth and Sam, we think you're an awesome kid, and I love spending time with you."

"But, I'm not Beth's son, and you love her."

"It doesn't matter, Ben," I replied quickly. "Love doesn't work that way, okay? You love who you love, and sometimes it makes sense, and sometimes it doesn't. And you? Well, you're my son and nothing is going to change that. I… well I ain't real good at saying this sort of stuff, just ask Beth, but you gotta understand - I do love you, Ben. You're my family. And there ain't nothing more important than family."

Ben nodded, a smile spreading over his face.

"You feel better?" I asked, hopeful. Another nod. I patted him on the back, thinking about the two women back at the house decorating for Halloween. "And I love your mom too, but just not in the same way - I love her as a really good friend, you know?" Ben nodded. "And family don't end with blood, Ben. She's family too, now. Whether she likes it or not." He sniggered, but the smile on his face was all I needed.

"Alright then, good. Let's go get a burger before we head home, huh?" I stood up, brushing at my knee before turning to toward the car. "And I got an idea for Halloween," I said. "But I'm gonna need your help…. Especially with your uncle."

* * *

 **The Next Evening (Halloween Night)**

 **LISA'S HOUSE  
** **Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

"The Addams Family would have been easier," Lisa commented, looking at herself in the mirror as she adjusted her 1960's frock and then tucked the last of her dark tresses under the blonde wig that made her look like Sandra Dee from Grease. "I could have at least been Wednesday, and kept the hair."

"You look great," I laughed, moving to adjust my own wig. Long, it hung straight down my back until it hit my behind. Half black, half white, I looked like I belonged in a commercial for a neenish tart. "Mind you, I think I would have made a great Morticia."

"Lily Munster is completely underestimated and overlooked," Dean said, coming into the room. He shrugged into a black jacket over the black undershirt he was wearing, and grinned. I shook my head at the Frankenstein-like make-up covering his face, and kissed his cheek when he got close enough.

"But Gomez was so sexy," I winked at him.

"Ah, cara mia…" Dean said, grabbing me. Before I knew it I was hanging above the floor, secure in his arms as he grinned down at me. "Herman has some tricks up his sleeve too."

"Wow, sweeping the girl off her feet, Herman has all the moves," Lisa laughed with approval. She looked up with delight as the door opened and the rest of the family walked in. "Oh, you guys look great!"

Ben had what looked like Vulcan ears, though I had been assured they were vampire stock- a white painted face along with a devil's peak drawn onto his forehead to make his slicked black hair look like Dracula's son. Dean had found him a costume of black shorts, white shirt and suspenders - once coupled with his black tie and jacket, Ben looked every bit the part of Eddie Munster. I was still reeling from the complete 180 Dean had pulled on us regarding Halloween.

"I look like a dork," Sam whined. "I'm taller than Dean, why am I stuck being Grandpa?" Sam was decked out in an old sixties style tuxedo, complete with bow tie, with his hair parted down the middle, slicked down. A freshly painted white face with bolded eyebrows, bushy sideburns, and a black cape with a high neck completed the ensemble.

"Because," Dean replied, still holding us in position. "Herman has the girl." His eyes met mine, and the smile faded from his face for a moment, his lips meeting mine and brushing along them. I felt my breath catch in my throat, hands moving to grip the back of his neck as he thrust his tongue into my mouth, seeking out mine.

"Ewwwww!" The other three people in the room cried out, and then Ben's voice chimed in with, "get a room!"

"Hey," Dean said, pulling away and straightening us up. "Where did you learn that?"

"Uncle Sam," Ben replied with a giggle, looking up at the man next to him.

"Sam!" Dean growled.

"What?" Sam asked, throwing his shoulders up in an exaggerated shrug. "You guys are as horny as Gomez and Morticia, maybe we should have gone with the Addams family. At least I could have been Lurch."

"No, no the Munsters are way cooler," Dean insisted.

"Either way, the costumes are done now," I stepped in. I looked down at the cream flowing peasant dress I was wearing and shook my head silently. Dresses. Well that was a rarity, even I had to admit.

"Plus, we didn't have enough people for the Addams family," Dean said.

"God I hate Halloween," Sam complained.

"Oh please, you weren't complaining when Jess was dressed up as a nurse," Dean pointed out, albeit rather insensitively.

"You know, this is completely out of character for you, Dean," Sam pointed out. "Remember all the 'the worst time ever to let your kids run rampant…don't know what really is out there in the dark,' speeches?"

"Yeah?" Dean said, glancing at Ben. "Well, times have changed Sammy. Gotta move with them, or get left behind. But maybe you wouldn't realise that, being the old man of the group."

"Shut up!" Sam snapped.

"Boys, boys, this is meant to be fun," Lisa interrupted.

"True, plus - I think we can handle the monsters." I agreed, making a mental note that I should probably put on a thigh holster under this dress, with a rock-salt loaded gun… and silver bullets … and iron too, just in case. In fact, I probably should find Ruby's knife too, just to be doubly sure.

"So enough with the bickering," Lisa said. "It's time to go trick or treating!"

* * *

 **Later that night**

 **SOME RANDOM PORCH  
Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

Despite the protesting, once we got to the treating part of Halloween, all the boys were in full swing. I watched as Dean stood on the front porch of a house chatting to a few younger guys holding a party. They'd already fed Ben candy and sent him on his way next door with Sam, Dean was trying to con a beer out of the guys.

"Oh come on! Look at all the effort we've gone to here," Dean said. One of the guys, looking over at Lisa and I standing down the steps, smirked.

"Well maybe if we could get a little action from the ladies…"

Dean turned with a grin, shrugging and gesturing as if we should comply.

"What?!" I spluttered out, looking incredulously at Dean, and then the offensive man. "You can't be serious, Dean, come on."

"It's Herman, and you know, Herman isn't opposed to … you know… maybe sharing," Dean replied. Lisa snorted beside me, shaking her head.

"He's serious, isn't he?" She asked. I raised my eyebrow at her and nodded, which made her laugh even more.

Lisa flashed me a cheeky grin, moving behind me and sliding her hands around my waist, bringing them to rest just under my breasts as she nuzzled her lips in against my neck.

"Uh, Lis, what'cha doing?" I asked, my voice a little pitched.

"Playing along," she whispered, and I felt a small kiss placed against my skin. Dean was staring, slack-jawed and amazed as were three other guys who had joined them on the porch.

"Oh you are one lucky man," the first guy said to Dean, handing him a fresh beer. "Enjoy, man."

Dean took a long pull of his beer and shook his head. "Yeah, uh, thanks man," he said, nodding and hurrying down the stairs, breaking Lisa and I apart.

"What the hell was that?" He asked urgently. Lisa laughed, slapping him on the behind before skipping off after Sam and Ben who had moved down another house. "What the hell was that?" Dean repeated.

"That, darling Herman, was you needing to be more careful what you wish for," I replied, slipping my arm around him. "That's a side to Lisa I haven't seen yet."

"You and me both," he muttered, taking another sip. "Dammit, that was hot, these pants already don't fit the greatest, you know."

I looked down at the offending bulge at the front of his groin, and he shifted uncomfortably. "We can do something about that, you know," I replied, lifting my face to place an innocent kiss under his left ear. Dean groaned, and I felt a hand slip down over my behind, squeezing lightly.

"Dammit, why didn't we get a motel? Stuck in Lisa's spare bedroom tonight when I just want to…" His eyes bled to dark desire, and I took his free hand, leading him after Sam, Lisa and Ben.

"You'll just have to be quiet," I said. "It's not like you haven't had to do that in the past."

"Yeah, but not in a long time!" He protested.

* * *

 **Later On...**

 **LISA'S HOUSE  
Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

The room was dark by the time I got back from the bathroom. I was still decked out in Lily's peasant gown, but my hair was at least back to my own. Not quite as long as the wig I'd been wearing earlier, it still fell halfway down my back in curled tresses. Dean's breath caught as I entered, finding the room alight with candles.

No longer sporting the makeup of Herman Munster, Dean was freshly showered, and dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts, which looked a little constricted at the moment when I glanced down.

"Hey you," I said, shutting the door behind me.

"Hey…" he breathed, letting out an appreciative sigh. "You look… beautiful."

"It's the candlelight," I said as he moved to stand in front of me, eyes locked with mine.

"No way," he protested. Lifting a hand, he let the outside of his fingers softly caress down my cheek and along my jawline before dropping to grasp my hand. "Come on." Pulling gently on my arm, he tugged me over to the bed, walking backwards the entire time, eyes never leaving me.

As we came to a stop, he pulled me in close and an insistent press against my stomach told me just how turned on he was already. Hot breath drew across my shoulder as he pulled back the elasticised neckline, revealing my milky white skin. I shivered, standing patiently and silently as Dean's fingers continued to explore my body over the dress I was wearing.

Tiny circles from his fingertips drove my body into shivers. I reached out to grip his biceps, feeling the hard muscles bunch beneath my palms, tensing as he restrained himself from skipping the foreplay and launching into where we both knew this was going. I lifted my face to his, closing my eyes as his breath ghosted over my jaw to my lips, hovering, waiting. I stood my ground, desperately wanting him to bridge the distance between us, our breaths mingling in short, shallow bursts of heat.

When the spell was finally broken, I let out a deep moan, opening my mouth to accept his insistent tongue, thrusting and circling in a tango for two as we melted into each other. The only sound in the room was our increased breathing as we pressed urgently against the other, hands pawing along his back, his mirroring mine and pulling me even tighter toward his hardness.

Spinning around and pushing me backwards, we landed on the soft downy covers of the bed, causing the bed frame to hit the wall with a bang. I broke into a giggle, and Dean looked up in alarm, before smiling down at me.

"Shhhhhhh…." he said, kissing my neck with his hot, wet lips. My giggles turned to quiet ragged gasps as he grasped the hem of my dress, pulling it up and baring my leg to his wandering hand. Hot palm scorched my skin, dragging a line of molten lava, left quickly cooling as his touch moved on.

When his fingers slipped in against my inner thigh, I opened my mouth to moan, Dean quickly smothered any noise with another deep, hungry kiss. There was a comfort in his weight next to me, a leg curled around my own, pulling it open until my thigh was pressed in against his arousal. I was pinned, yet completely open to his every whim. I would never get tired of this.

With a grin, he pressed a couple of fingers into the wet folds of my centre, and I arched off the mattress, forcing his touch harder against me. "Oh yes…" I whispered.

"Mmmmf," he murmured, burying his nose into my hair and inhaling. He slowly, deliberately drew his fingers up and down, circling them over the sensitive nub which had me panting for air each time; then plunging deeper into my core, wracking my body with slower, more intense ripples of pleasure.

My hands were not idle in this. They moved anywhere they could, caressing along his smooth skin, removing his boxer shorts, pulling him against me. Gripping and squeezing his arms, hips, thighs as the ebbs of his work started to reach a crescendo. Arching into his touch, I was forced to pull away, throwing myself against the bed and clutching the covers tightly as I felt my body start to lose control. Only then did Dean shift, continuing his deep, methodical finger movements as he repositioned himself above me, spreading my legs wider with his knees; then looking into my eyes. I nodded, licking my lips as I reached up to grab his hips.

In one long movement, he withdrew his fingers at the same time as he thrust into my waiting wetness, burying himself to the hilt. I cried out sharply in pleasure and found a hand over my mouth, teasing, pleased eyes looking into my own. "Shhhhhh…" he reminded me, and I nipped at his fingers playfully, smiling as he placed a finger across my lips and I sucked it into the cavern of my mouth, swirling my tongue around its tip. Dean moaned softly in reply, his eyes fluttering closed as he pushed himself harder into me.

"Devil…" he muttered.

I trembled beneath him with each small movement, gulping down the moans I so desperately wanted to send to the heavens. I could feel him so far inside that we might as well have been one being; I never wanted him to stop. My legs wrapped around his, arms sliding along his back until he was pulled chest to chest, the only space between us at our mouths as he ground slowly.

His breathing was steady, calm, while mine was anything else. I gasped in short, rapid succession as he hit the sweet spot, pulling out then driving languidly back inside, his hips doing all the work as we writhed together. As I felt my release start to breach the surface, I dared some soft encouragement, whimpering into his mouth, "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh... "

My lips brushed along his as my legs turned to tight, crushing vices around his waist, my heels digging into his buttocks as I tensed, waiting for that pivotal moment. Then it hit, the sweet, rippling melody of ecstasy, washing out from my centre, up through my torso and down through my legs, rendering me completely at his mercy, helpless to do anything but shake in his arms and whimper faintly into his passionate kisses.

Our world paused. Dean came to a stop, letting me shatter beneath him as I closed my eyes and let everything about him wash through and over me. "I love you," I whispered when I could finally speak. Looking up into tender eyes full of adoration. "I love you."

"I know," he replied in a low voice, and then he started to move. Harder this time, bracing himself against the mattress, his hands either side of me. He moved into a position that worked for him, the angle just right as evidenced by his utterance, "oh yeah." He was still getting deep, slipping easily in and out, but not quickly or with too much force to avoid the bed hitting the wall as it had earlier.

Raising his hips higher, he drove me down into the bed, gasping as he started to reach his own peak which was quickly coming. While we had in the past had marathons, in our youth thinking quantity mattered more than quality, life was different since Hell. Whatever had happened to him down there, he chose more often than not to meld us together, united and trembling as one. Moments like this where the whole world got put on hold, and we simply melted into each other.

"Oh... " his breath escaped his lips as he shuddered, grinding into me three more times, a little faster, finally throwing his head back and planting himself inside as his release flowed forth, filling me with a warm, primal feeling of nurturing, need and want. I laced my fingers through his hair, pulling him down, his arms finally collapsing. The full weight of his body pressed upon mine like a comforting blanket. We lay, releasing sharp exhales for breath, completely at peace inside our tiny universe.

* * *

 **2am - Halloween Night**

 **LISA'S HOUSE  
Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

I stretched languidly like a cat, a broad smile on my face. The last few hours had been incredibly necessary; I'd forgotten how much sharing a motel room with Sam affected our sex life. Rolling over to my side, I looked up at Dean who was staring out the window.

"What on earth has your attention now?" I asked. It was the third time he'd gone to the window, the other two being to yell at a couple of kids who were out looking to TP someone's house. He'd scared them off and I wondered if they were back for more.

"Come get a look at this guy," he answered, waving me over. I groaned, not wanting to leave the warmth of our bed, but complied after pulling his t-shirt over my head. When I got to the window there were flashing lights of an ambulance across the road.

"Huh, they didn't use sirens," I pointed out.

"Someone's already dead," Dean said. "Now look there," he added, pointing to a shadow under a huge willow tree in the front yard. I squinted, and could just make out the figure of a person hunched over in the darkness. "I saw the same guy earlier, I'm sure of it."

The figure was tall, thin, and looked as if he was wrapped in a dark cloak. "It's Halloween, Dean. There's a lot of creepy people out and about."

"I'm telling you it's the same guy," Dean said. "When we were over on Fifth Street, there was an ambulance there too, and so was he."

As we watched, a woman came out of the house opposite carrying a bowl and goblet. She hesitated for a moment, hovering just on the edge of the light cast from the porch, and then decidedly stepped under the tree. The figure waiting for her came forward and accepted the offered bowl and its accompanying cup.

Frowning, I tried to get a better look as a flash of green iridescent hue illuminated an emaciated face. The shadowed man devoured whatever was on the plate, and then drank greedily from the goblet before handing it back to the woman. She quickly left his presence, and scurried back inside.

"Huh," Dean said. "Nothing weird about that…"

"That was… not what you'd see every day," I agreed.

The figure started to move out onto the street under the light. "Come on!" Dean said, pulling his runners on. "Let's check this out."

"Are you crazy? It's the middle of the night!" I answered, moving to my jeans just the same. I slipped them on, sans underwear and pulled my runners on without socks. Dean was already tucking his gun into the back of his pants and moving out the door when I started to follow.

"There's something going on with this guy," he insisted in quiet whispers, letting us out the front door. I slipped Lisa's keys from the hall stand into my pocket as we exited, pulling the locked door closed behind us.

"So what, death? You think it's a reaper?" I asked. Dean hurried to the street, I was immediately behind him.

"This way," he said, starting to jog down the sidewalk. In the far distance we could see the dark silhouette of the man further in front of us. "No," he added. "If it was a reaper, we couldn't see it. This is something else."

I didn't want to point out that it could just be a morbid person following the ambulance around. Dean would have already weighed all the options, and somewhere in his hunter mind, he'd come up with the conclusion of a monster. I shivered lightly in the cool night air, glad I'd thought to grab my jacket on the way out of the bedroom. The one thing neither of us had managed to remember was our phones, and I was hoping we were not going to need to call for backup from Sam.

As we got closer, we slowed to a more casual saunter, Dean wrapping his arm around me as if we were out for a romantic midnight stroll. The man in front of us seemed to have a destination in mind, never hesitating as he went down one side street, and then another. We lolled back so as not to draw attention to ourselves, waiting to see where he ended up.

After about ten minutes, he came to a complete standstill in front of a house. For a moment he stood, looking up at the windows of the living room, still alight at this hour. Someone was awake inside. Dean pulled me into the bushes along the neighbour's fence, and we crouched concealed as surprisingly a man came to the door, opening it and looking out into the night.

Without a word, the dark cloaked man stepped on to the path leading to the house, and before we knew it, he had entered the house.

"Nothing weird about that," Dean muttered, standing up. He inclined his head toward the house and we crept across the lawn until we were standing under the window to the living room. Our eyes were at the same height as the window sill, looking inside we saw what appeared to be a home hospice. A single adjustable hospital bed took up the majority of the room, surrounded by other medical machines.

The man who had opened the door was now standing beside a bed, on it was another man who was wheezing, and sucking on an oxygen mask. His skin was grey and drawn, and we could clearly see that he was on death's doorstep.

"Why don't I get a good feeling about this?" Dean muttered.

"Look!" I exclaimed softly as the dark figure entered the room. He exchanged words with the man on the bed before looking up at the other person in the room. There was a nod exchanged, and then after a moment, the shadowed man leaned over the bed. Again, a green hazy light illuminated the area around the bed, and I grabbed Dean's hand, squeezing as we both watched, awestruck, while the creature sucked the light from the dying man.

"Dammit!" Dean cursed, pulling his gun. He ran for the door, it was unlocked, and I hurried after him, unarmed.

"Stop right there!" Dean called out as we entered the living room. I glanced at the man when the creature stepped back, holding its hands out; he was dead.

"It's not what you think," the creature said.

"Oh, and what do I think it is?" Dean asked.

"I'm a sin eater," he replied. "I just saved this man from going to Hell."

"Like Hell you did!"

"Please, listen!" The man standing by the bed said, his hands raised in the air. "It's true. It's what he does."

I looked the so-called Sin Eater over, troubled by the claim - he seemed to shift in and out of focus, as if surrounded by a dark cloud we couldn't quite get the full picture of.

"What did you do to him?" I asked. "Did you kill him?"

"No," came the reply. "He was on death's doorstep. I simply took away his burdens. Death did the rest."

"I've never heard of such a thing," I said, thinking that I most certainly should have come across this when Dean was facing Hell - what with the obvious benefits of having one's sins taken away.

"We are old, and stay well hidden," said the man.

"Yeah well, that don't mean you can't die," Dean said, flicking the safety off his gun.

"Only if you catch me!" With a whoosh he was suddenly gone, leaving us alone with a dead body, a shaking man, and a list of unanswered questions.

"What the hell?" Dean asked.

* * *

 **All Saint's Day (Nov 1st)**

 **Lisa's House  
** **Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

Sam and Lisa were not impressed that we'd somehow managed to pick up a case during our weekend away. Just the same, after what we'd seen, Dean wasn't letting this go; and neither was I. I looked up as Dean paced in front of me, talking to Bobby on speaker phone.

"Well, what are you callin' me for, ya idjits? Get Jefferson on the dang phone, sin eaters are his specialty… he learned everything from Beth's daddy."

"I called Jefferson," I replied, and Dean came to a stop in front of me. "He hasn't been answering his phone. Do you know where he is?"

"I haven't heard nothin' from him, but that ain't unusual. That boy likes to work alone. Always has."

I didn't know what to say to that, but he was right. Jefferson did have a way of turning up after weeks of being out of contact. He rarely explained where he'd been, or why he'd been gone. The few times I'd tried to pry, he'd told me there were some things I was just better off not knowing. I didn't push after that, though it had driven me crazy with curiosity.

"What did the witness say?" Bobby asked.

"That it's exactly as he claimed - a sin eater. There to take away the sins of his brother."

"Well, how sure are you this is a monster, and not something we should let go?" Bobby questioned. "Seems there's more important things you kids should be focusing on."

I sighed, looking over at Dean who scowled.

"Yeah well, we're doin' this Bobby, I don't care what it says it does, there was something not right about that thing," he said.

"Even so…"

"People don't do things like take on the sins of others for nothing, there's gotta be a catch here. Maybe it's a demon, some new way of getting souls… I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Dean continued.

"Well… I know better than to try and talk you out of a decision, just be careful," Bobby said finally. "And keep trying Jefferson."

"Okay Bobby, we will," I promised.

Dean hung up the phone and fell down on the couch, rubbing his eyes. "Man, I'm tired," he complained. "You know I saw that sin eater at the library earlier? I swear he's everywhere I go."

"Yeah, I saw him too. I think he's taunting us…" I said, standing up from the dining table and moving behind the couch so I could rub his shoulders. "You want a coffee?" I asked, Dean groaned and nodded, dropping his head back against the couch. I smiled, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Be right back."

It was coming up on nine o'clock. Ben had been sent to bed, and as I moved down the hall to the kitchen, I heard Sam and Lisa talking.

"I'm just not sure, Sam. I mean, hunting? What you guys do is dangerous," Lisa said. I stopped, feeling a little bad about listening in, but wanting to know what they were talking about.

"It can be, that's true," Sam agreed, "but you have to understand. We were raised in this, Lisa. Dean doesn't know anything else. Beth, she pretty much doesn't either. I'm the only one that got away, started a life outside of hunting."

"That's what scares me," Lisa replied.

"Look, I know it's not ideal. But Dean and Beth, they're good at what they do," Sam reassured her.

"What about Ben?" Lisa asked. "What about the influence it'll have on him?"

"Dean adores Ben, so does Beth. There's no one better I would trust with my kid," Sam said. "To be honest, finding out about Ben… it's changed Dean."

"How so?"

"Well, he'd never admit it, but Dean I think after he met Ben, Dean really started to think about settling down... making a life with Beth," he said. I bit my lip, frowning. This was a theory Sam hadn't shared openly.

"Well then why haven't they?" Lisa asked.

There was a pause, and I waited breathlessly for the answer. I wanted to hear this too.

"I...uh. Well, it's me." Sam said. I heard Lisa make a sound of disagreement, and then Sam protested. "No, really. Dean and Beth? The only reason he's so angry with me going off and getting a life, was because he wanted that with Beth - but when I left… it caused such a rift with Dad, they just couldn't do it. And, they did try, after Beth was … well… dead. I know, it doesn't get any easier to say that. But they did, and they had to come out of retirement for me."

"I'm sure that's not true, Sam," Lisa said, her voice full of comfort.

"No, it is," Sam insisted. "They've always looked after me. And, well, I think they're never going to be able to stop. It's too ingrained. They need to look after me - it's their mission. Dad gave it to them, and they've never been able to let it go. I don't know that they ever will."

"But, they have to let you go some time Sam - you're a grown man."

"Not in their eyes," Sam replied quietly. "I never will be."

"You know, I've come up with a theory!" Dean's voice echoed down the hallway, making me jump a little as he followed the sound of his own voice.

Sam and Lisa stopped talking, and I hurried to join Dean before they realised I'd been listening to their conversation. Sam's head popped out from the archway into the kitchen and he frowned.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah… I was watching that scene from 'The Order' again," he said, scowling as Sam snickered. "What?!"

"That's hardly research Dean, it's a movie," Lisa chimed in.

"Hey, a lot of these things are based in truth, y'know!" Dean retorted. Sam shook his head.

"Like 'The Leprechaun?'" He asked. I shuddered, recalling that freaked out movie.

"Oh man, I tell you, I ever come up against one of those…" Dean stopped himself short, his hands raised in the air like he was going to throttle something. "Anyway…. Stop trying to distract me. I'm telling you. It wasn't a specific dagger that killed the sin eater." He paused, waiting.

"And?" Sam asked.

"It was an iron dagger!" Dean announced. He walked back down the hallway, the three of us following him, and rummaged through our weapons bag. With a triumphant sound, he stood up, brandishing one of our trusty iron daggers.

"Better consecrate it in holy water, just in case," he decided.

"Dean," I said cautiously. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course!" He said, looking at my dubious face. "Well, like… 95 percent."

"Because you never really watched the end of the movie…" I pointed out to him. I had, because I liked Heath Ledger, but that was beside the point.

"So?"

"Well, the dagger turned the priest into a sin eater before killing the original sin eater," I answered.

Dean hesitated, glancing at Sam and Lisa who were standing next to each other, arms crossed. "Well… like you said, a lot of this movie stuff is nonsense," he said finally, much to my amusement.

"Uh huh," Sam snorted.

"Besides, even if it is true, I'll be fine," Dean said confidently.

"Oh, how do you figure?" Lisa asked.

"Well it's simple really. I'm not a priest!"

* * *

 **Later That Night**

 **IMPALA  
** **Cicero, Indiana**

 **Beth's POV**

We'd been circling the city, one block at a time for hours. I stifled a yawn and glanced across at Dean: his jaw set, hands clenching the steering wheel, eyes glued to the world outside our little front seat haven. So many times we'd done this, and it never got old, because so long as we were together, we were happy. But I couldn't help but think about Sam, Lisa and Ben at the movies, enjoying their evening out, while we were obsessing over another monster.

"You know, Sam thinks we can't give up the hunt," I said, rolling my head to the side, and twisting to face Dean. "Says it's because we can't stop looking after him."

Even in the dark I saw his jaw clench, and then apple green eyes turned to look at me. "What do you think?"

I shrugged, letting out a breath. "I don't know. I mean, we were happy in Minnesota, right?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Yeah we were." His eyes turned back to the road and I saw his chest heave a little as he took a deep breath. "We were happy," this time the comment said under his breath.

"Yet here we are, maybe he's right," I suggested.

The car fell silent, and we went back to looking out the windows for anything unusual, like … ambulances with sin eaters hanging around.

After a few moments, Dean spoke up. "You know I have this theory…" My phone started to vibrate at the same time his voice trailed off. "...son of a bitch!"

The Impala lurched to the side of the road as I answered the call. "Jefferson, not a good time," I said, following Dean's lead and climbing out of the car.

"It can't wait Princess," Jefferson's English accent flowed over the line. I frowned, watching as Dean started to walk toward two men twenty yards away. The familiar figure of the Sin Eater was hunched over a man on the ground, who was holding his stomach and looked as if he'd been stabbed during a mugging.

"Talk to me," I said as Dean continued approaching the men.

"If you're after a sin eater, you'd best stop now," Jefferson got straight to the point.

"Why?"

"First, they are stronger than they look. Second, they take a ridiculous amount of rigmarole to kill," Jefferson said.

"Like what?"

"Like more than I can tell on phone call," he replied.

I looked up at Dean, approaching the shadowy looking sin eater, and his victim. If you could call him that.

"Why would we let him go?" I asked. "Dean thinks it's a demon, or something, pretending to be a sin eater and making deals."

"From what you told me, he might be the real deal," Jefferson replied.

"So you're saying we should let this guy go?" I questioned.

"I'm saying you need to take some time and do more research, before you get hurt," Jefferson answered.

I looked closer at the scene unfolding before me. "I gotta go…" I said into the phone, hanging up and climbing out of the car, hurrying after Dean.

"You should leave me be," the creature was saying to him, "I'm helping people."

The businessman on the ground was fading, I could see the light in his eyes dull even as they spoke.

"Oh yeah?" Dean asked. "You're a real saint. Look no one does anything for nothing - what's your angle?"

"Nothing, this is what I do," he replied.

"Look at this schmuck on the ground," said Dean, gesturing to mugging victim. "Why him?"

"The things he's done to people to get ahead in the world? His children? The maid…" The sin eater looked at the dying man knowingly, who began to cry. "I do it because that's what I was made for."

I looked down at the phone in the hands of the businessman, saw a banking logo and shook my head.

"Money?" I asked. "You do this for money?" I pointed at the phone and the sin eater shrugged, tossing me a grin.

"Man has to make a living," he replied.

I scowled, crossing my arms. "What about the poor?"

"There's always something I can benefit from," was the sin eater's answer.

"Like what?"

"Maybe you should ask your Daddy," said the creature, shocking me to my core. "Oh wait, you can't… they're both dead."

"Why you…" Dean started in for the man, but suddenly he had vanished, right before our eyes.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it didn't sound good." Dean replied, looking down at the man on the ground. He was dead.

* * *

 **All Soul's Day (Nov 2nd)**

 **Motel  
** **Near Cicero, Indiana**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

Jefferson had arrived in the morning and taken out the executive suite of the Fairfield Inn for the rest of the week. I was currently leaning over a map of Cicero, marking off all the points that I'd seen the sin eater.

"Here," I said, crossing off the house opposite Lisa's. I marked off the other five points and we quickly had a circumference of about ten miles in diameter.

"Hmmm, good," Jefferson said with a nod. He started to look over the map, scanning it with eagle eyes.

"What are you looking for, man?" I asked, trying to follow his line of sight.

"Sin Eaters belong to one of the oldest denominations there are…" Jefferson muttered, clicking his tongue and then exclaiming with satisfaction before circling a marker in the centre of where all my sightings had been. "There."

I looked down, and Beth joined us, holding one of her father's journals. In the centre of the red circle was a chapel. "St Anthony's" I commented. "Catholic?"

"Of course," Jefferson smirked. "You know any other religion more obsessed with sin than the Vatican's finest?"

"Dad was looking into them too… back around the time he was spending all that time with Pastor Jim," Beth chimed in. "Here, he talks about hunting a sin eater in Pasadena. Him and Pastor Jim, they were investigating if there was a demonic link to the eating of sins."

"And was there?" I asked.

"Doesn't say," Beth replied. "In fact, there's nothing more on it at all."

"That's because they found out that there isn't," Jefferson answered. "They truly do what they say they do. Eat your sins."

"Why?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Jefferson shrugged. "But I do know that Patrick spent a lot of time with this creature, wanting to learn more about the concept of sinning, and going to Hell. Particularly…" he glanced at Beth, who tossed a quizzical look his way. "...particularly in relation to the souls of the possessed."

"Mom…" Beth breathed.

"Indeed. He was concerned that if someone was possessed, the sins of the demon would become the sins of the victim, as it was their body being controlled," Jefferson replied.

I frowned, glancing at Beth who had gone a little pale. She'd been possessed when she'd killed her own father, and all this time no one had thought to question what that did to her soul.

"And?" Beth asked.

"I personally think you can't believe a word out of their mouths. Why wouldn't they lie?" Jefferson replied. "There's got to be something in it for them, but your father never figured out what."

"You didn't answer the question," Beth stated, her voice a little shaky.

"Because I don't have the answers," Jefferson said with a sigh. "That sin eater seemed to think all sin, whether possessed or not was put on the soul of the person."

I reached out, placing my hand at Beth's back. "But?" I asked, there was clearly something he hadn't gotten to.

"But I didn't believe him," Jefferson replied. "Sin is a burden put upon the soul, not the body. If your soul is not in control of your body, how can it be held accountable for the actions of the flesh?"

I nodded in agreement, but Beth looked a little dubious.

"Beth," Jefferson said a little sterner. "I am telling you, he was lying." He lifted her chin to stare defiantly into her eyes until the set of her jaw changed, and she let out a soft breath, nodding softly.

"Okay," I said, breaking the silence. "What now?"

"Now?" Jefferson asked. "Now we kill this thing."

* * *

 **Later That Night**

 **St Anthony's Church Rectory**

 **Jefferson's POV**

The sin eater hadn't been hard to find. All Soul's Eve, lots of people wanting to pray for the sins of the dead. What I hadn't told Beth and Dean was that this creature fed on the sins of people, whether they asked for it or not.

It was a creature of darkness.

There was no redemption for those going to Hell, whether this sin eater took the sins or not. I'd already looked into it, when Dean was bound for Hell, thinking it might save him from his contract. Every avenue I'd exhausted around this led to one thing, and one thing only - this was just another creature feeding on the weakness of others. There was no true salvation to be had in its existence.

I looked over the shadowed figure now that Dean had secured it to the table. It hissed at me, when I pulled out Patrick's old bible.

"Priest… you can't hurt me, I am older than time itself," he claimed.

"Oh I doubt that," I commented. "But if so, this is only going to hurt more."

I flipped through the pages of the obsolete bible, one that had been passed down from priest to priest over the centuries. Finally I came to a stop at an exorcism that I hadn't used in quite some time. It pulled the souls of others from the body… kind of a reverse to what we did with demons.

Beth watched curiously as I started to recite the ritual in Latin, moving to look over my shoulder. Dean, ever watchful, stood nearby with the demon killing knife.

On the table, the sin eater started to writhe, and then growl as a green hue poured forth from its mouth. He snapped, and snarled at us, eyes turning yellow and full of contempt.

"What is happening?" Beth asked.

"All the sins he has eaten over the centuries preserves his body," I explained. "Once the life force is taken from him, he will die."

Beth walked up to the creature, and seemed to look down on him with pity.

"Do you seek the Rite of Unction?" She asked, and I paused, wanting to genuinely know.

"I have no sins to confess," the sin eater said. "I carry only the sins of others. Do what you will, it matters little to my final resting place."

I continued to speak the rite, and as I reached the end, a green light flowed upwards and out of the room with a scream.

Before our very eyes the creature slumped back onto to the table, it's skin withered and grey. "Dean, now!" I commanded, and the man swung into action, no hesitation. The blade was forced into the heart of the creature, ending the screams as he choked and then fell inert.

* * *

 **Shortly After**

 **Impala, by St Anthony's Church**

 **Beth's POV**

I was staring at the stained glass windows, lit up from within by the mass taking place for All Soul's Night. Every part of my body itched to get in there and join in the prayers for the recently departed - and not just the recently, but everyone I'd ever known who was no longer with us.

When I'd asked him why it was so important that we hunt down and kill this sin eater, Jefferson had been upfront, as he usually was.

"They take advantage of the dying," he replied. "There are no guarantees it even works. I've done a number of sinful things in my life, but nothing would make me pay one of those creatures to take it all away. It's cheating."

"Cheating?" I'd asked.

"I like to think God has a plan for us all," Jefferson confessed. "Even if we don't understand what it is. With all the darkness I've faced in my life, the good I've done, surely it outweighs the sins… and if not, then I am going where I deserve to be, and I'm okay with that."

I looked him over as he stood with Dean by the car. There was a lot to Jefferson we didn't know, he kept to himself, and only shared what he considered necessary. His relationship with the demon Altea, I never asked about - swore on my consecrated rosary that I would never judge him for whatever was going on there - not after the help she gave us in trying to get Dean out of Hell. Not after her help with saving my mother.

"Do you truly believe in God?" I asked finally.

"Absolutely," he replied without hesitation.

"Then where is he?" I questioned.

"He's watching, that much I'm sure of," Jefferson replied. "Chin up princess, the dance isn't over yet."

"What about this Apocalypse then?" Dean asked him. The Englishman had just grinned and leaned against his Plymouth _Roadrunner._

"From what I can tell, this is a pissing contest between two angels, and nothing to do with God."

"They still want Dean and Sam for their contest," I pointed out to him.

"We all have our destinies to play. But I highly doubt Dean and Sam's is to destroy each other."

"I wish I had your faith," I said, to which he laughed.

"Princess, your faith pulled a man - this man," he pointed at Dean, "out of Hell. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what 's All Soul's Night. Go pay your respects to the dead, say your prayers, and send love to your parents. They're all in Heaven, I can promise you that, and they didn't need a sin eater to get there."

Dean nodded, stepping up and giving me a little shove toward the church steps. "I'll pick you up in an hour," he said.

With a deep sigh, I took a few steps toward the church and then before I knew it I was inside, crossing myself with holy water and pulling my rosary out from under my shirt. If Jefferson could have faith, after all he'd seen, surely I could have a little of my own.

* * *

 **Later That Night  
**

 **LISA'S HOUSE  
** **Cicero, Indiana**

 **Dean's POV**

There was pie. I knew that much. Lisa had picked it up earlier; while Sam had taken her and Ben to the movies, Jefferson, Beth and I had gone out and killed a sin eater. I was still getting my head around that one.

I slipped out of our dark room, leaving Beth to sleep, and padded barefoot down the stairs to the kitchen. By the glow of the fridge I pulled out the box holding the lemon meringue pie - Beth's favourite - and placed it on the island bench.

A flash of light nearby caught my attention, and I moved, grabbing the wrist that was holding the knife, and slamming it up against the cupboard.

"Ow! Dean! Geez, I was just getting you a knife," Lisa said with a grunt. I let her go, instantly feeling bad.

"Sorry, you shouldn't have snuck up on me," I said.

"I said your name, doofus," she replied. "You were a million miles away staring at that pie."

"Huh," I said, accepting the knife from her, using it to slice a couple of big pieces. Lisa pulled a couple of plates out of the cupboard I'd pushed her up against, and handed them to me.

As I served up our midnight snack, I glanced at her. Long jet black hair, hanging in curls around her shoulders, wearing a simple pair of pyjamas. She waited patiently as I moved, finally taking the offered plate from me.

"So what's on your mind Dean?" She asked, slicing a piece of pie off the end and putting it in her mouth, moving to sit on one of the bar stools at the bench.

I took the one next to her, and settled heavily down upon it, resting my elbows on the counter.

"The usual," I said, not really giving her anything.

"That usually means you're about to run off and do something stupid," she commented, turning those dark eyes to look at me.

I chuckled, thinking about the mess we were all in. "Would you believe it if I said, I'd rather be here, just hanging with you guys?"

Lisa was silent, just the ticking of a clock on the wall to break the quiet.

"Why don't you guys move to town?" She said finally. I munched on pie, thinking about what that would mean. "Maybe you could start over, make a life for you and Beth."

"Yeah, well… much as I'd like to Lis, there won't be much of a world to make a life on, if we don't keep moving."

"There's always some war to fight with you," she sighed. "You know, sometimes I wonder if you don't go looking for it."

I paused, taking that in. There was probably some truth to it. "Well, we're used to the fight, I guess," I said softly. "But, sometimes we dream of a simple life."

"Then take it," Lisa said. "Before it's too late."

"You're too good for us Lis," I commented.

"Tell me you'll think about it," she pressed. "Ben would like you around more."

"He's a good kid, you've done a great job with him," I said, relieved to be able to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject with me, Winchester," she retorted. "You deserve to be happy."

I munched on my pie and frowned a little. _Did I?_ Maybe that was the whole problem.

"Maybe," I said. "And maybe not. I'd done a lot of bad things, Lisa. I'm not sure there's any coming back from them."

"That's ridiculous," she answered. "You guys do a hell of a lot of good, from what Sam tells me."

"Doesn't mean it's gonna outweigh the bad," I countered.

"You guys need a rest," Lisa said, ignoring my comment. "You need a home."

"That's the thing about homes," I said quietly. "They can be taken from you."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't try," she pushed.

I smiled, nodding my head. She was right, of course. And I had promised Beth we were going to do this. I planned to, I just had to figure out the whole killing the Devil thing first.

"As soon as we kill the Devil, we'll be on your doorstep Lis, that's a promise," I said finally.

"We've all got devils inside us Dean, hopefully you kill yours sooner than later," she said, standing and kissing my cheek. "Get some sleep, huh?"

I nodded, unable to respond. She didn't think I was being literal - which of course, she wouldn't.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her about the Apocalypse that was upon us. I was still hoping I'd never have to.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: _Down_ by Jason Walker

This story started out as a little add-in to _Changing Channels_ but by the time I was done with them both, we were looking at 71 pages for everything. So I broke it into two, and this got a little more backstory. Just a little fun piece.

 _Changing Channels will be up in a few days :)_

Hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year!


	9. Changing Channels

_Chances are when said and done  
_ _Who'll be the lucky ones who make it all the way?  
_ _Though you say I could be your answer  
_ _Nothing lasts forever no matter how it feels today_

 _Chances are we'll find a new equation  
_ _Chances roll away from me  
_ _Chances are all they hope to be_

 _Don't get me wrong I'd never say never  
_ _'Cause though love can change the weather  
_ _No act of God can pull me away from you_

* * *

 **CHANGING CHANNELS**

* * *

 **MOTEL**

 **Wellington, Ohio**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I shoveled another handful of popcorn into my mouth, chewing loudly as Beth and I lounged on the double bed of yet another tired and old motel room, completely absorbed in the show on TV. A medical emergency broke out on the screen with all the on-duty interns being summoned to station five south - wherever that was - and then Dr Palmer and Dr Piccolo entered the elevator…. I leaned forward, watching closely, my hand funneled popcorn to my mouth automatically. This was going to be _the moment._

Beth stopped looking at her phone and started to take more of an interest in the screen. "No way…" she said.

"Yes way," I nodded, "I told you."

As soon as the doors of the elevators closed, Palmer and Piccolo started to make out like Beth and I after a long drought between getting our own motel room. Beth groaned and fell back on the mattress, and I chuckled, watching as the male doctor started to run his hands along the others' back.

"What are you watching?" Sam asked, looking up from his research at the small table in the corner.

"Hospital show," Beth said, sitting up again and reaching for the popcorn. "Dr Sexy, MD."

"I think it's based on a book," I added, throwing a piece of popcorn at Beth, who deftly caught it in her mouth. I grinned as she munched on it loudly, her bites quickly overshadowed by Sam's sigh.

"When did you two hit menopause?" He asked.

"It's called channel surfing," I said defensively, standing up and turning off the TV as Sam grabbed his jacket.

"Hey I was still watching that!" Beth protested.

"First, no you weren't, you were on your phone. Second, it goes for another half hour, we got things to do," I replied, getting down to business. If there was one thing I hated, it was that Sam seemed to have a better work ethic than us lately. In fact, he was really pushing the cases, while Beth and I seemed to be caught up in a tug-of-war between the job, and a little house in Minnesota.

The latter sighed, tossing aside the popcorn and slipping into her jacket.

"Fine," she grumbled, looking over at me. She flicked her long hair over her shoulders and adjusted the jacket to square her shoulders, a movement that told me her feathers were a little ruffled. I'd have to get to the bottom of that later, I realised, but for now Sam was looking at us expectantly.

"You ready?" I asked him, as if he hadn't been waiting on us all this time.

"Are you?" Sam snorted, his expression bemused.

I grabbed the keys off the table, giving him one of my pointed looks telling him I wasn't in the mood for his crapola.

"I was born ready," I muttered, leaving the two of them to follow me out the door.

* * *

 **POLICE STATION  
Wellington, Ohio**

 _ **Sam's POV**_

Dean and Beth were on edge, they had been for months. It seemed to have reached a peak around Halloween, and now in the lead up to December - a time which seemed to hit us all a little hard - they were worse than ever. I had been watching them my whole life it seemed, and the picture that was starting to form made me feel uncomfortable - like I was losing a piece of a world that, as messed up as it was, made sense to me. So I made us work, just like Dad.

"One more time," the officer in front of us asked. "The FBI is here why, exactly?" He skeptically viewed the three of us, which was odd enough, with a raised eyebrow.

"Might have something to do with one of your locals getting his head ripped off," Dean supplied, not missing a beat.

"Bill Randolph died from a bear attack," the officer replied quickly, but there was doubt there, something simmering below the surface. Like many of the cases we'd worked - there was weird, and then there was downright inexplicable, and that was when people tended to take a dive into denial.

"How sure are you—that it was a bear?" I asked, writing a few items I wanted from the shop in my notebook. To the officer I was astutely interested and being thorough. I couldn't have been more bored of the routine.

"What else would it be?" Came the reply.

Beth leaned on the counter and looked at her nails, glancing up at the officer. "Well, whatever it was—it chased Mr. Randolph through the woods, smashed through his front door—followed him up the stairs, and killed him in his bedroom. Did I miss anything?" Her expression was dead serious.

"Is that common, a bear doing all that?" Dean asked, his face as deadpan as Beth's.

The officer shrugged, at a loss for words because deep down he knew we were right: he just didn't want to admit that, because then we might start digging and find something that couldn't be explained. And guys like Officer Jones here, they didn't like to have their worlds rocked.

"Depends how pissed off it is, I guess. Look, the Randolphs live way up in high country. You got trout runs to make a grown man weep," he looked at Beth, adding, "...and bears.

"Right," I nodded, standing a little straighter and looking around the station. "Now, what about Mrs. Randolph? The file says she saw the whole thing."

"Yes, she did. My heart goes out to that poor woman," the officer replied.

"She said bear?" Beth asked.

"Kathy Randolph went through a hell of a trauma. She's confused," he supplied. Dean practically snorted, I narrowed my eyes at the officer, a look that said I meant business.

"What did she say?" I queried.

* * *

 **INTERVIEW ROOM  
Wellington, Ohio**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Kathy Randolph was clearly in shock, and appeared as if she was starting to doubt her own memories - something that was common when you saw something you couldn't explain, and the rest of the world tried to convince you that you were imagining it.

"No, it must have been a bear. I mean, what else could it have been?" She asked when Dean questioned her on what she'd seen. I glanced over at the one-way mirror on the wall, knowing that Sam was watching carefully from the other side. We'd decided not to crowd her, but now I was thinking perhaps Sam's puppy dog eyes could win her over.

"Mrs. Randolph, what do you think it was?" I asked softly, offering her an encouraging smile.

"No, I, I remember clearly now. It was definitely a bear," Kathy insisted. Dean leaned back in his chair with the barest of sighs.

"We're sure it was. But see, it helps us to hear every angle. So just tell us what you thought you saw," he said.

Kathy paused, looking from Dean to me, and then around the room. She seemed to be thinking it over, chewing on her lower lip as if she was weighing up whether or not to trust us. I couldn't blame her, I knew what it was like to be called crazy just because you'd experienced the supernatural. We both smiled encouragingly as she hesitantly opened her mouth.

"It's impossible, but...I could have sworn I saw...the Incredible Hulk," she said.

"The Incredible Hulk," without warning the skepticism fell out of my mouth.

"I told you it was crazy," she said, pulling back inside of herself.

"Bana or Norton?" Dean asked, not missing a beat.

"Oh, no, those movies were terrible. The _TV_ Hulk," Kathy replied, a serious expression on her face.

Dean nodded and smiled at me. "Lou Ferrigno," he supplied.

"Yes."

"Spiky-hair Lou Ferrigno?" Dean asked.

"Yes."

"Huh," he replied, his brow raising up curiously.

"Bana was definitely better," I said, thinking about the movies that I had seen.

"Huh?" Dean asked, looking over at me with a surprised expression.

"Huh?" I replied, feigning innocence. I loved to tease him. He might know he was my world, but it never hurt to keep him on his toes.

"You think I'm crazy," Kathy cut in.

"No," Dean said, turning to look at her and shaking his head. "No. Uh, no, it's just...is there, uh, would there be any reason that Lou Ferrigno, the Incredible Hulk, would have a grudge against your husband?"

"No," she answered.

"No…" Dean echoed, turning once again to look skeptically at me. "Bana? Really?"

"Oh yeah…" I said with a smile at Kathy. "He's sexy."

"She's not wrong, I wish it had been Bana," Kathy agreed.

"As Hector," I giggled, leaning forward on the table.

"Oh yes," Kathy breathed appreciatively.

"What the…?" Dean was staring at us.

"He doesn't understand, he thinks the world revolves around Brad Pitt," I said conspiratorially to Kathy.

"Too much of a pretty boy," she replied, shaking her head. I leaned an elbow on the table and smiled over at Dean, acting as if he was my partner, not my husband.

"Bit like Dean here…"

That got his hackles up. "Hey, now!" He complained. Kathy was looking at Dean, dressed in a suit, up and down with a smile. Her gaze hovered momentarily over his groin, she licked her lips quickly and then raised her eyebrow at him.

"I don't know… he looks like he has a bad boy side."

"See?" Dean said, gesturing to her as if she'd just declared him James Dean. "There you go."

"Mmmm," I shook my head, taking a sip of my coffee and swallowing it before answering. "She doesn't know you the way I know you," I said, looking at Kathy. "Nothing bad boy about this one. He's all chocolate and ice cream wrapped up in sunshine and rainbows. Cries when he watches Bambi. Prefers Herman Munster over Gomez Addams," I said with a grin. Dean's mouth dropped open at the reference, his eyes narrowing in challenge.

"Gomez was so sexy…" Kathy said dreamily.

"Herman had moves!" Dean protested. I grinned at him, feeling as if the ice had been broken with Kathy. If there was something further, anything strange at all, she would call now that we'd bonded over Bana.

"We're terribly sorry for your loss, Kathy," I said, changing the subject and handing her a card. "But please, if you think of anything else…. Anything at all, please call us. We believe you." I stood up, Dean following suit as Kathy watched us, a little confused at the sudden departure. Dean cleared his throat and wished her all the best as I led the way out of the room. Once outside he leaned into me, his breath hot in my ear.

"Bana… really?"

I laughed and winked at him, smiling as Sam came to join us. "Let's go pretty boy," he said to Dean and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Man I hate it when you two gang up on me!" Dean announced, starting to lead the way to the car.

* * *

 **MOTEL ROOM  
Wellington, Ohio**

 **Dean's POV**

She'd only been joking, but I was still bristling over the pretty boy comment. I glared at the photo of Eric Bana as Hector up on my screen before flipping back to the _Wellington Guardian_ article about the local man who had been killed in a "bear attack". The door to the motel room opened, and first in was Sam, followed by Beth. I glanced at the picture of Bana again frowning.

"Hey," Sam said.

"Find anything?" I asked.

"Well," Beth said, flipping on the light in the room. I flinched with the sudden brightness as she continued to talk. "We uh, saw the house."

I looked up, curious. "And?"

"And there is a giant eight-foot-wide hole where the front door used to be," Sam said. "Almost like, uh…"

"A Hulk-sized hole," I supplied, receiving a nod from Beth.

"Maybe," Sam replied. "What do you got?"

"Well, it turns out that Bill Randolph had quite the temper," I said, bringing up a few police reports that I'd been going through. "He's got two counts of spousal battery, bar brawls, and court-ordered anger management sessions. You might say you wouldn't like him when he's angry."

"I daresay I wouldn't like him at all," Beth said, crossing her arms.

"So a hothead getting killed by TV's greatest hothead. Kinda sounds like just desserts, doesn't it?" Sam said. I snorted, it did seem rather poetic.

"It's all starting to make sense," Sam continued, taking a seat on the couch against the wall.

"How is it starting to make sense?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Well, I found something else at the crime scene," Sam said, reaching into his pockets and then pulling out handfuls of candy wrappers, dumping them on the table in front of him. Beth nodded again, gesturing to the discarded trash.

"Candy wrappers," she said. "Lots of them."

It was starting to make sense, indeed. We'd dealt with this before. "Just desserts, sweet tooth, screwing with people before you kill 'em—we're dealing with the Trickster, aren't we?"

"Sure looks like it," Beth said, moving to the weapons bag on the end of our bed. She started rummaging through it as I watched her, feeling slightly anxious, and angry at the same time.

"Good," I said finally, swallowing down a lump in my throat. "I've wanted to gank that mother since the Mystery Spot."

"You sure?" Sam asked carefully, looking from Beth to me.

"Yeah I'm sure," I replied quickly with a nod.

"No, I mean are you sure you wanna kill him?" Sam asked. This got Beth's attention. She stopped what she was doing and stood upright, turning to look at our misguided brother.

"Why the hell wouldn't we Sam?" Beth asked. "He's damn well earned it after what he put us through."

"Son of a bitch didn't think twice about icing me a thousand times," I agreed.

"No, I know, I mean, I'm just saying…" Sam's voice trailed off as he threw his arms out in a shrug.

"What are you saying?" I asked. "If you don't want to kill him, then what?"

"Talk to him," Sam replied. Beth was holding a gun in her hands, and at Sam's suggestion she clicked the clip into place.

"Woahhhhh," she said, shaking her head.

"What?" I asked, frowning at him.

"Think about it, guys. He's one of the most powerful creatures we've ever met. Maybe we can use him," Sam said quickly.

"For what?"

"Okay, Trickster's like a Hugh Hefner type, right? Wine, women, song—maybe he doesn't want the party to end. Maybe he hates this angels and demons stuff as much as we do. Maybe he'll help us," Sam said, standing up and looking hopefully at us both. Beth was watching him, her mouth slightly opened as she took in what he was saying.

"He's serious…" She said finally.

"You're serious?!" I echoed.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"Ally with the Trickster?" I clarified.

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"A bloody, violent monster, and you wanna be Facebook friends with him? Nice, Sammy." I was starting to think he was losing his damn mind.

"The world is gonna end, Dean. We don't have the luxury of a moral stand. Look, I'm just saying it's worth a shot. That's all," Sam replied. I shifted uncomfortably at the thought, looking over at Beth who sighed and then shrugged.

"I dunno… I still remember that Mystery Spot. I'm pretty sure I'm not over it," she said, tucking the gun into the back of her pants.

"Well, those bullets aren't going to do the trick," Sam pointed out. Beth smirked and crossed her arms.

"They'll make me feel a lot better, and slow him down til I get a stake into him," she replied. I grinned, a moment of pride washing through me. _That's my girl._ The reality was, it didn't matter whether we wanted to befriend or behead the Trickster, we had to find him first.

"How are we gonna find the guy, anyway?" I asked. "It's not like he's taking out a billboard."

"Well, he never takes just one victim, right? He'll show," Sam said.

* * *

 **Several Hours Later  
MOTEL ROOM  
Wellington, Ohio**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

I still wasn't sold on the 'let's reason with a psycho" tactic Sam was taking, but after much arguing, I'd agreed to trial this. Just the same, Dean and I were sharpening stakes and getting them ready for the back-up plan when the talking failed.

Sam was watching us warily as he listened to the police scanner, and after a moment cleared his throat. "So… are we agreed? We try to reason with this guy?"

Dean seemed fed up with the conversation as he sat next to me, and I flopped back onto the bed with an audible whine.

"Yeah, okay, fine," Dean grumbled, falling back next to me. I sighed and glanced over at his face, mere inches from mine; he was worried about me.

"If it doesn't work, we'll kill him," I commented.

"Better," Dean smiled.

" _Um, Dispatch? I, I got a possible 187 out here at the old paper mill on Route 6?"_ A man's slightly harried voice came over the scanner.

"Hey," Sam said. Dean sat up, pulling me with him as he focused on the scanner. I frowned, a 187 was a murder, this could apply, but maybe not. People died every day. Still, Sam was focused as if we had found our man.

" _Roger that. What are you looking at there, son?"_ Asked the dispatcher.

" _Honestly, Walt, I, I wouldn't even know how to describe what I'm seeing. Just—send everybody."_

" _All right, stay calm, stay by your car. Help's on the way."_

Sam turned off the scanner, turning to look at us expectantly.

"That sounds weird," Dean conceded, I had to agree. Most of the time you didn't get a call to send everybody, especially with a murder, the killer was generally long gone by that point.

"Weird enough to be our guy," Sam agreed. My hand twitched on my thigh, itching to get a go at this Trickster. I had a lot of unspent rage inside, and he had it coming. I didn't know how well I was going to be able to adhere to Sam's wishes to bargain with him.

We were at the scene of the murder in under fifteen minutes, and the site was dead. Dean frowned as he exited the Impala, looking up at the warehouse. "There was a murder here, and there's no police cars. There's nobody. How's that look to you?"

"Crappy," Sam said.

"Like our kind of luck," I muttered, moving to open the trunk. Dean reached into the armory and pulled out three stakes that we'd been working on earlier. I grabbed three flashlights, handing one to Sam as Dean locked his arm around my neck, pulling me in close to him so he could plant a kiss on my forehead.

"Chin up, sugarpie. After this I'm taking you on a holiday," he said. I chuckled and looked up so I could kiss his cheek.

"We don't get holidays."

"Well, maybe we should start," he said.

"Guys?" Sam said from the front of the car. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dean muttered. "Damn impatient…"

* * *

 _ **HOSPITAL**_

 **Dean's POV**

We stepped into the warehouse, finding it bustling with interns and nurses, sick people and orderlies. I looked down and found myself in a white lab coat, a stethoscope around my neck. Next to me, Sam was wearing exactly the same thing.

"What the hell?" I asked.

As I looked up, a pretty blonde in a lab coat, along with Dr Wang from the show Beth and I had been watching earlier, passed by.

"Doctor," she said to him.

"Doctor," he replied.

"Doctor?" Sam asked, a look of confusion on his face. _And where was Beth?_ I turned around, twisted the knob on the door to go back outside, only to find a janitor's closet - and two people making out. I closed the door quickly, looking up at Sam in consternation.

"Oh boy," I muttered. I had a bad feeling about this. This place looked way too familiar, and I didn't like what that meant.

"What's going on here?" Sam asked. I was staring at a brunette doctor by the receptionist's desk. She looked over at us, and then zeroed in on Sam, starting to make a beeline for him.

"Oh boy," I repeated, watching as she came to a standstill in front of Sam and then slapped him, the sound of it echoing down the corridor.

"Ow!" Sam exclaimed, reaching up to rub his cheek.

"Seriously," she said to him, and I couldn't believe my eyes. It couldn't be? She looked like it… but, seriously?

"What?" Sam asked.

"Seriously? You're brilliant, you know that? And a coward. You're a brilliant coward," she said to Sam, her voice wavering with emotion.

"Um. What are you talking about?" Sam asked, glancing sideways at me. She slapped him again.

"As if you don't know!" She exclaimed. I shrugged, after all, who could argue with that? Turning on her heel, the doctor stalked off down the corridor in a haze of fury. I watched her, shaking my head.

"I don't believe this…"

"What?" Sam asked.

"That's Dr. Piccolo," I said, pointing after the retreating woman.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Dr. Ellen Piccolo," I replied. "The sexy yet earnest doctor at…." I looked the sign behind the receptionist's desk, gesturing at it. _Damn it, here we go again!_ "Seattle Mercy Hospital."

"Dean…What the hell are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"The doctor getups. The, the sexy interns. The 'seriously's. It all makes sense," I said.

"What makes sense? What's going on?" Sam questioned.

"We're in _Dr. Sexy, MD_ ," I replied, looking up at Sam who was gaping at me. "We gotta find Beth," I decided, and without further consultation, I started walking down the corridor in the opposite direction to which Piccolo had gone.

"Dude, what the hell?" I asked, gesturing at the different interns in short skirts running around. The dramatics that were playing all around us.

"I don't know…" Sam said.

"No, seriously, what the hell?" I repeated.

"I don't know."

"One theory," I continued. "Any theory."

"Uh, the Trickster trapped us in TV Land," Sam offered.

"That's your theory?" I asked, looking at him skeptically. "That's stupid."

Sam rolled his eyes and looked at the people around us. "You're the one who said we're on _Dr. Sexy, MD_."

"Yeah, but TV land isn't TV Land. I mean, there's actors and, and lights and crew members, you know. This looks real," I pointed out.

"It can't be. Dean, how can this possibly be real?" Sam questioned. It was a valid query. How could it be real? These were actors, on a TV show, this wasn't real. It couldn't be. But it sure felt real.

"I don't know," I muttered, running a hand through my hair. Dr Wang walked past us and I grinned at her, feeling a little star struck.

"Doctors," Wang said with a nod as she passed.

"There goes Dr. Wang," I said to Sam. "The sexy but arrogant heart surgeon." We watched her continue walking down the corridor, a sexy swagger to her hips which was pleasing to the eye. She passed a gurney, and my eyes fell to the man sitting on it. "And there's Johnny Drake. Oh, he's not even alive, he's a ghost in the mind of…" I looked around, seeing another brunette doctor walk out of one of the ward rooms and take a seat on the gurney. "Of her. The sexy yet neurotic doctor over there." I pointed her out to Sam who shook his head.

"So...this show has ghosts? Why?" He asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "It's compelling."

"I thought you said you weren't a fan."

"I'm not," I denied, my eyes falling to a couple of people just beyond the ghostly couple. "I'm not," I insisted at Sam's snort. "Oh boy."

"What?" Sam asked.

"It's him," I whispered, recognising the doctor from a distance.

"Who?"

"It's him," I repeated as the doctor I was watching started walking toward us. "It's Dr Sexy, and he's talking to _my wife_!" I felt my feathers ruffle, if I'd had any, and we both looked to Beth who was dressed as a nurse, smiling and laughing with Dr Palmer as they moved through the busy corridor.

"So I was thinking… dinner, my place, tonight at eight?" Palmer said within earshot, and Beth smiled at him, nodding as if she was agreeing.

"Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed, taking a few steps in their direction, Sam following.

The pair came to a stop in front of us, and Dr. Palmer looked at me. "Doctor," he said. I looked down, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"Doctor," I snarled. Palmer turned to Sam, inclining his head.

"Doctor."

Sam nodded and I sighed, smacking him upside the head. He needed to get with the program. Sam scowled at me, but turned back to Palmer. "Doctor."

I looked at Beth with a frown, not liking that _Dr Sexy_ had just been hitting on my wife. "Nurse…."

"Doctor," Beth replied with a smile, clearly more amused than I was feeling. Dr. Palmer looked expectantly at Sam, who shifted uncomfortably beside me. I nudged him with my elbow, inclining my head toward Beth, who was watching Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… right… nurse," Sam said finally.

"Doctor," Beth replied, her eyes glittering in amusement.

"This is insane," Sam whispered in my ear.

I didn't reply, instead turning my attention to Palmer, who addressed me with a stern look. "Must you hit on everything that walks?" I asked him, and he raised an eyebrow, as if that was a good enough answer.

"Seriously…" I muttered under my breath when he didn't offer an answer. Sam cleared his throat and this seemed to trigger Palmer into conversation.

"You want to give me one good reason why you defied my direct order to do the experimental face transplant on Mrs. Biehl?" He asked.

I frowned, glancing at Beth who was looking wide-eyed now. The walls started to feel as if they were closing in on me. "Uh…one reason?" I asked, and the doctor nodded.

"Uh, sure," I replied, looking down. White tennis shoes. I saw red, looking up at him and then launching myself. I slammed the doctor up against the wall, my forearm to his throat as I pinned him. "You're not Dr. Sexy," I accused.

"Dean!" Beth's voice startled next to us.

"You're crazy," Palmer replied.

"Really?" I asked. "Because I swore part of what makes Dr. Sexy sexy is the fact that he wears cowboy boots. Not tennis shoes."

Beth looked down, then back up at the man I was holding in place. "That's true!" She confirmed.

"Yeah. You guys aren't a fans," Sam sniggered.

I shrugged at Beth, a smile tugging at my mouth. "It's a guilty pleasure."

"Call security!" Palmer called out to a passing intern.

"Yeah, go ahead, pal. See, we know who you are," I said. Suddenly all the people around us, including Dr Wang and the Security Guard, froze. Beth moved next to me, and I heard Sam slip behind me to check out one of the immobile people.

A shimmer happened around Dr Palmer, and suddenly he morphed into the cheeky faced, grinning persona of the Trickster we'd encountered years earlier before I went to Hell. "You guys are getting better!" He applauded.

"Get us the hell out of here," I demanded.

"Or what?"

Before I knew it, he'd twisted my arms around behind my back, spinning me to face Sam, and pulling hard on my wrist until I groaned in pain. "Don't say you have wooden stakes, big guy," he said from behind me.

"That was you on the police scanner, right? This is a trick," Beth said.

"Hello? Trickster. Come on! I heard you three yahoos were in town. How could I resist?" He asked with a laugh.

"Where the hell are we?" I said with a grimace.

"Like it? It's all homemade. My own sets…" he released me, pushing me into Sam, who stopped my movement and helped me rebalance. The Trickster moved to rap on the window as he spoke, then gestured to the frozen actors. "My own actors...call it my own little idiot box."

"How do we get out?" Beth queried.

"That, my dear, is the sixty-four-dollar question," he grinned back at her. Sam scowled, throwing his hand up in the air.

"Whatever. We just, we need to talk to you. We need your help," he said.

"Hm, let me guess. You muttonheads broke the world, and you want me to sweep up your mess?" The Trickster asked.

"Please. Just five minutes. Hear us out," Sam pleaded. I wasn't feeling so much like bargaining after all this.

"Sure," the Trickster said, looking as if he was thinking it over. 'Tell you what. Survive the next twenty-four hours, we'll talk."

"Survive what?" I asked.

"The game!"

"What game?" Beth asked.

"You're in it," he laughed, throwing his arms in the air.

"How do we play?" I questioned. There had to be rules, after all.

"You're playing it," he replied. I could feel my ire rising.

"What are the rules?" Beth asked.

He simply grinned, and then vanished.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" I cursed. This was not good. Not good at all. And now we had crazy egocentric doctors to deal with.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

It didn't take long for Dr Sexy's presence to be missed. A blonde doctor was running around now calling out for him as we stood in the middle of the corridor, trying to figure out just what the Trickster meant by _game._

"Paging Dr Sexy," a voice over the intercom sounded. "Report to the ER."

"Oh, by the way," Dean said to Sam, "Talking with monsters? Hell of a plan!" He was scowling as he started to follow the blonde that was looking for Dr Sexy.

"Just, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"You know what I'm doing?" Dean asked, looking up at the exit doors ahead of us. "Leaving."

Suddenly there was a brunette next to us in a white lab coat, taking a swing at Sam, who ducked out of the way of her fist. I realised quickly that I was looking at Dr Piccolo.

"Lady, what the hell?" Sam exclaimed as Dean stepped up next to me, his attention changing from the exit to the scene unfolding in front of us.

"She's got a real thing for him," he confided, crossing his arms and watching with a grin.

"Figures," I said, shrugging at Dean. "She likes the puppy dog looks."

"Guys?" Sam asked, looking from Piccolo to us. "Really?"

"You are a brilliant, brilliant…"

"Yeah," Sam cut her off. "A coward. You already said that." I sniggered and looked at Dean.

"She said that?"

"Oh yeah," Dean chuckled. "A brilliant, _brilliant_ coward," he reiterated with dramatic effect.

"Look, I got news for you," Sam said to Piccolo, ignoring us. "I'm not a doctor."

"Don't say that!" Piccolo chided. "You are the finest cerebrovascular neurosurgeon I have ever met, and I have met plenty. So that girl died on your table. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. Sometimes people just die."

Dean and I needed popcorn. This was better than watching it on the screen. I looked from the desperate, sad face of Piccolo to Sam, who managed to frown and sigh at the same time.

"I have no idea what you're saying to me," he said futily.

"You're afraid. You're afraid to operate again," she said, reaching out and touching his arm.

"And he's afraid to love," I whispered into Dean's ear.

"And you're afraid to love!" Piccolo declared. Dean snorted as Sam's face turned to disbelief. Piccolo started to sob heavily, pushing past Sam and running down the corridor, her hands covering her face.

"Oh yeah, she got it bad," I nodded. "Sam, you broke her heart."

Sam gave me a pained look. "Yeah, we're getting out of here,' he announced.

We started to walk toward the door, intent on getting out and back to the car when someone called out behind us. "Hey, doctor!"

Dean stopped and turned around, curious as a man rushed toward us. "Yeah?"

"My wife needs that face transplant," the man said, coming to a stop in front of us.

"Later," Dean said. "I got other things to deal with."

"No! She needs it now, _doctor!"_

"Hey, come on, the doctor said he's busy," I stepped in, putting a hand on the man's arm. He reacted, pulling his arm back and then shoving me toward the wall. This got an audible growl from Dean, who scowled and stepped over to take my arm as I regained my balance.

"You know what, pal? None of this is real, and your wife doesn't need jack squat. Okay?" Dean said, and he turned, taking my elbow in his hand and pulling me with him.

"Hey, Doctor!" The man yelled and I looked over my shoulder, just in time to see a gun go off.

"Dean!" I called out, seeing his face turn white, while an ooze of red spread across his back and he fell to his knees.

"Real…" Dean muttered, looking over at me. "It's real…."

"Sammy!" I cried out, panicked.

"No no no, no no no no no—hey! We need a doctor!" Sam called out, his hand on Dean's shoulder as he looked up frantically.

* * *

 _ **Operating Room  
Dr. Sexy TV Land**_

 **Beth's POV**

I was staring at the bare back of Dean, bloody and tattered while I held a cloth to it, and he lay face down on the operating table, reassuring me that it would be all right.

"Shouldn't he be under anesthesia?" I asked Sam, looking at him as he was assisted into latex gloves, a look of pure horror on his face. We were all dressed in the usual operating attire of white scrubs, head bandanas and masks. I looked over at the observation window, and Piccolo was there, looking at Sam encouragingly.

"BP is eighty over fifty and dropping," a blonde doctor announced as alarms on equipment started going off everywhere, even though Dean didn't appear to be hooked up to anything.

"Doctor," Wang said, looking at Sam and holding out a scalpel. Sam looked at it, frowning.

"What?"

Wang and the blonde exchanged a perplexed look, and once again the scalpel was offered to Sam. I scowled at him as Dean asked what was going on.

"Sam, do something! Come on!"

Sam leaned over Dean to speak quietly in my ear. "I don't know how to use any of this crap."

I sighed. "Figure it out, Dean might actually die from this!"

Sam leaned back, smiling awkwardly at Wang and the blonde, but still hesitating to act.

"Sam!" I urged. "It's just a bullet wound," I pointed out.

"Okay," he said, nodding to himself. "Um. I need a penknife, some dental floss, a sewing needle, and a fifth of whiskey." My eyes bulged open in disbelief as the doctors around us looked at him and then each other. Sam, seeing that they weren't moving, frowned and called out, "stat!"

This sent everyone into motion. Before I knew it, there was a mostly empty bottle of Kentucky Bourbon - which I guessed I'd mostly drunk - on the table next to us, and Sam's gloved and bloody hands were stitching up Dean's back. Once we'd started to act, things seemed to fall into place. After all, we'd been patching each other up for decades, how was this any different? There was a part of me wishing we had Cole here to do the medical stuff, the other part was glad she wasn't messed up in it.

"We okay? How's it looking?" Dean's muffled voice sounded from under the operating table.

"Yep," I said with a squeeze of his hand. "You'll be fine."

I looked up to see Sam watching Piccolo through the observation window, and as I followed his gaze she mouthed ' _I love you',_ sighing with a happy smile.

"Oh good lord…" I muttered, shaking my head.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

One second I was on the operating table, the next we were on the stage of some bizarre game show. I looked over at Sam, opposite me as a Japanese man, along with Beth in a sequined red dress, came walking out from two sliding doors. Her hair was piled on her head, and she seemed to be struggling to walk in the high heels that she was wearing.

The man said something into the microphone he was carrying, laughing into the crowd, and then announced. "Let's play Nutcracker!"

What the hell was going on? One minute we were on the set of _Dr Sexy_ and now we were in a game show? This Trickster was really starting to get my goat. The audience started to cheer and clap as I attempted to step away from my station. I pulled at my foot, and then looked down. My shoes were glued to the platform, and when I glanced over at Sam, I could see he was in the same position as me.

The host said something in Japanese to the crowd, and they fell silent, looking expectantly as the guy pulled a card out of his jacket.

"Sam Winchester," he said in a strong Japanese accent, continuing to speak in Japanese. When he finished his question, he looked expectantly at Sam for an answer, announcing "countdown" as the clock behind us started to tick down from twenty seconds. Sam spluttered, glancing around in confusion.

"What?" He asked. "Uh, what am I supposed to say?"

"You think I know?" I snorted. "Beth?"

Beth was shaking her head, looking at the clock. "I never learned Japanese…."

Sam turned to the host, smiling. "Uh, I, I don't, I don't understand Japanese."

The host smiled back at him, then repeated what he had said, again in Japanese.

"Is he screwing with me?" Sam asked, perplexed. "I, I, I can't speak Japanese." The clock hit zero, and a loud buzz sounded. The host said something in Japanese, and then looked to the crowd.

"The answer is...Ruby!"

 _Ruby? What the Hell?_

"I'm sorry, Sam Winchester," the host apologised.

"Sorry? Sir? For what?" Sam asked. The host sniggered, holding a hand to his mouth as suddenly a pole shot out of the floor between Sam's legs, a ball hitting him right in the crotch.

"Oh! No!" I exclaimed, grimacing as Sam's eyes glazed over and he grabbed at his crown jewels. "That just ain't right," I muttered while the audience erupted into laughter and cheers.

"Nutcracker!" The host called out.

"Sam?" Beth asked, looking at our brother, who made a very inarticulate groan in response. A woman's voice sounded in Japanese, and the host walked over to Beth, handing her a bag of chips. He turned to the camera, smiling and against speaking in Japanese.

Beth faked a smile, holding the chips up like she was on the Home Shopping Network, and I looked over at Sam. "You okay?" Sam scowled at me, and I eyed off my own platform warily. The host was now looking expectantly at Beth, whose eyes widened when he stopped talking.

"Oh, uh…." She shook the chips around and then smiled. "Please buy them!"

The lights on the doors behind us started to flash and smoke as the host turned back to us. "Oh now what?" I asked.

Sliding open, I was surprised to see a familiar face behind the metal doors.

"Cas?" Beth asked, surprised. He stepped on to the walkway, his face set in a scowl, trenchcoat billowing behind him. The crowd roared in excitement.

"Is this another trick?" Sam asked.

"It's me," Cas replied. "Uh, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking around at the set.

"Us?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. You've been missing for days," Cas replied. Beth hurried on to the stage beside the two of us, grabbing my hand and squeezing hard.

"So get us the hell out of here, then!" She said.

Cas nodded. "Let's go." Within seconds he reached out, and touched his fingers to both Sam's and my foreheads. There was a burst of electricity and some sparks of light before the angel disappeared completely.

"Cas?" I asked.

"No, no, no, no. Mr. Trickster does not like pretty-boy angels," the Host announced, coming back on stage and pulling out another card. I found myself gripping Beth's hand back, as he turned to me.

"Dean Winchester…" He continued to read off a question in Japanese, that I had no answer to.

The screen behind us ominously started to tick down from twenty again.

"What do I do, what do I do?" I asked, panicked, looking from Beth to Sam.

"What?" Sam asked.

"I don't wanna get hit in the nuts!"

"I don't know," Beth said, shaking her head, looking a little sick herself. "I...I… uh, just… uh wait!"

"What?!" Both Sam and I exclaimed.

"Sam played a doctor," she said, looking at him.

"What?"

"In, uh, in Dr. Sexy he played a doctor. he operated," she said. Sam was starting to nod, clearly getting something I wasn't.

"So?" I asked.

"So I played the role the Trickster wanted me to play. Maybe we should just go along with it," he suggested.

"Go along with what?"

"With the game!" Beth said. "You know, we're on a game show, right? So just answer the question!"

"In Japanese?" I questioned. I could swear this was getting more ludicrous as the seconds ticked down.

"Yeah!" Sam said.

"But I don't know Japanese!"

"Just try," Beth urged.

I really didn't want to get hit in the nuts. That just wasn't right. "Dammit!" I cursed, looking up as the countdown got down to single digits. I hit the button in front of me and the clock froze just before the buzz.

I said the first thing that came to mind. Japanese and all. The host looked at me, repeating what I'd said. I nodded, saying it again, this time with conviction. Beth looked unconvinced, the grip on my hand telling me that she was starting to freak out because there was no way out of this.

The host turned to the crowd and yelled something out in Japanese. I looked down at the platform with a grimace, bracing myself for the pain.

"Dean Winchester, Nutcracker champion!" The host announced to the cheers of the crowd.

Sam and Beth looked on incredulously. "How did you do that?" He asked.

"I have no idea," I replied, the relief flooding through me just the same.

"So that's it," Beth said with a sigh of relief. "We play our roles, we survive."

"Yeah, but play our roles for how long?" I asked.

"Good question," Sam said as we all turned to the crowd and smiled, waving as the applause thundered on.

* * *

 **BASKETBALL COURT**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

We were in some sort of commercial. Sam and I were playing a bit of two-on-two against Beth and another very attractive, athletic girl. Beth scored and high-fived the girl while Sam turned around to look into the distance, a pained expression on his face.

"Seriously?" He asked after a moment. I stopped bouncing the ball and jogged over to him.

"Hey, you're the one who said play our roles," I said, somewhere internally I knew we were in a commercial for medical relief. A _particular type_ of relief.

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Right." I grinned, turning to eye off Beth and the other girl who were waving us over. I clapped Sam on the shoulder and then ran off to join them.

"I've got genital herpes," Sam said to the imaginary camera. I was already snickering by the time his next line came around. "But now I take twice-daily Herpexia to reduce my chances of passing it on."

Beth was standing by the side, reading from a script when I reached them. "Patients should always consult with a physician before using Herpexia. Possible side effects include headache, diarrhea, permanent erectile dysfunction, thoughts of suicide, and nausea."

I gestured to her questioningly, and she shrugged, replied, "voiceover." Ahhhh. I chuckled, looking back at Sam.

"I am doing all I can to slightly lessen the spread of—of genital herpes. And that's a good thing." With a smile, he turned, jogging back to us with a scowl on his face as I tossed the ball at the ring, getting a perfect 3-points.

* * *

 _ **FULL HOUSE**_

 **Beth's POV**

I'd lost track of how many different takes we'd had in this crazy world of the Trickster. We were no closer to escaping the madness when we landed in one of the shows I'd spent my childhood watching. There was a themesong playing over unseen speakers as we all played our roles.

 _Town to town, two-land roads, family biz, that's how hunting goes_

From my position, I could see Sam and Dean playing out their intro part, backing into each other and startling … completely unlike us at all. They burst out laughing and I shook my head in amusement.

 _Living a lie just to get by_

I watched Sam open a cabinet. A ghost in a white sheet attempted to scare him, he shut the door and pushed his back against it, looking frightened.

 _As long as we're moving forward._

The scene had changed to the Impala. Dean was under the hood, working on changing spark plugs. He wiped his forehead, smearing grease across it, and Sam pointed and laughed. Dean looked at his hand and laughed back.

Once more the scene changed. I was jogging along at park pathway now, listening to music with my earphones on. Suddenly from out of the bushes, a man leapt out, scaring me half to death. I reacted, grabbing him and flipping before I realised who it was. From flat on his back, Dean looked up at me, a little chagrined and then laughed. I growled at him, then helped him up, moaning softly as he took my face in his hands and kissed me tenderly.

"This is getting out of control," I whispered to him as we broke apart with a loving expression.

"I know…" he whispered back

 _There's nothing we can't do, together we'll face the day_

Another park scene. This time I was on a tandem bicycle with Dean, and he laughed, pedalling away. Sam was on a regular bike next to us, chatting happily as we all pretended like this was the most _normal thing in the world_ when we'd never done this in our lives.

 _You and I won't run away_

 _When the demons come out to play_

Sam threw a football at Dean who caught it, and then bounced it on the ground. I laughed wildly and tackled him out of left field, falling to the ground on top of him with a grunt. Sam joined us, falling in a heap, and we all laughed happily, flopping back onto the ground.

The final scene was the three of us standing around in a motel, holding half-eaten burgers. We clinked our beer bottles together and turned to grin at the non-existent camera that we somehow instinctively knew we had to perform for.

 _Together we'll face the day_

* * *

 **CLOUD CITY  
Carbon-Freezing Chamber**

 **BETH's POV**

Dean was standing beside me in restraints, wearing what looked like a Han Solo outfit. My suspicions were confirmed when Lando spoke to him.

"You're being put into carbon freeze."

Dean paused, looking at me with a slightly excited look. "Do you know who that is?"

"Dean, I don't think this is very funny…" I commented, for the first time looking sideways and seeing Sam in a hairy suit.

"That's Lando Calrissian!" Dean continued, earning a strange look from Lando.

"Put him in!" Vader shouted across the room, and then Sam was swinging his arms around in protest, fighting the security officers.

"This is unbelievable!" Dean said.

"Aren't you supposed to stop him?" I asked, looking as Sam continued to wail and throw people three feet in the air until they hit walls.

"Oh yeah…" Dean said, moving after him. "Sam! I mean Chewie! Stop Chewie! Do you hear me? Stop!"

Sam hesitated, turning upset eyes to look at Dean.

"This won't help me…" Dean continued, looking for the first time at the carbon-freezing chamber.

"I don't like this," I said, walking up to them both.

"Sam, you have to look after Beth," Dean cautioned us both. "I'm serious, there will be another time."

Sam howled at him, and I looked up at Dean. "I don't like this." Dean leaned down and kissed me, brief by our standards, but as he was pulled away, he looked a little worried.

"Play our parts, remember?" Dean asked, glancing back at the machine, as the guards started to pull him to the chamber.

I would have known this scene by heart. Han and Leia were one of my favourite on-screen couples. I watched as Dean was secured in the freeze chamber.

"I love you," I said finally, the irony sitting heavy on my chest. What he was about to reply, was what he normally said to me - Star Wars or not.

"I know," he smiled at me, and then he was dropped into the chamber.

* * *

 _ **MOTEL ROOM**_

 **Dean's POV**

I fell from Star Wars into a freaky motel room in bright, cheerful 60s colours and furnishings.

Looking around, the room was set up for some comedic relief. I sucked in a deep breath, not liking the theme some of these skits were taking. What the Hell?

In my hand was mayonnaise, and as I had a hand on the fridge, I returned it, closing the door and turning back to the table. I grinned. Adorning the middle of the table was the biggest sandwich I had ever seen.

"I'm gonna need a bigger mouth," I grinned, and there was another laugh track that sounded. The door opened, and Sam entered to much applause.

"Hey there, Sam," I said with a smile. "What's happening?"

"Oh, nothing. Um. Just the end of the world," Sam said with a shrug. Again, the laugh track as Sam's eyes fell to the sandwich.

"You're gonna need a bigger mouth," he said as the room erupted into more laughter.

"Hey, uh, have you done your research yet?" Sam asked. I hesitated, playing the 'busted' roll well as I looked at him guiltily.

"Oh, yeah," I said with a nod. "All kinds of research. All night."

"Yeah?" Sam asked as I glanced toward the bathroom. "Hm."

The door opened, and Beth walked into the room wearing a french maid outfit. No laughter this time. The track was one of wolf whistles as Beth blushed, pulling the hem down at the back.

"I think I liked the Leia outfit better…" she commented. There was deathly silence from the audience and so she rolled her eyes, looking at our brother.

"Oh, hi Sam, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm here to find out about the research," he replied. Beth looked at me, sharing an amused shrug and then smiled.

"Oh, well… we got a little distracted," she said, sauntering over to the oven in the little kitchenette. She reached down, baring her behind to the audience - more wolf whistles - before pulling out a tray. "But… there's pie!" She announced, turning to display a freshly baked apple pie.

"Pie?" I asked, looking shocked. "Am I the luckiest man on the planet or what?"

There was an _awwwwwww_ track that played, and Sam chuckled, nodding. "Well… Beth your pie is the best." Applause. "But I still need that research."

I couldn't decide what I wanted to get into first. There was the sandwich, the pie… and then Beth… in a French Maid uniform. I cleared my throat, grinning at her. "Well uh, we're gonna need more time, Sammy. We still have more… research to do."

Sam folded his arms, sighing. "Guys…" Another laugh track.

I scowled, playing the part of nagged brother. "Son of a bitch!"

Sam moved over to Beth, glaring over his shoulder at my comment. "Uh, I am really, really very sorry, but uh, we don't have time for pie," he said.

My face sunk. "What?!"

Beth looked at him sadly. "But Sam, it's my _best_ pie. And we did work!" She glanced at me, her eyes running the length of my body. "...out..." Another laugh track sounded and I couldn't help but smile.

"Beth…" Sam chided.

"Oh fine!" Beth sighed, moving to drop the entire tray, pie and all, into the bin. I looked on horrified. Sam nodded with satisfaction, and I forced a smile as the audience laughed at my expression.

"How long do we have to keep doing this?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"I don't know," Sam replied to a round of applause. "Maybe forever?" More laughter.

"We might die in here," Beth said, moving to stand next to me as the audience found the thought of our imminent demise amusing.

"How was that funny?" Dean asked, scowling. "Vultures."

The door opened, and without warning Castiel walked in, looking like he'd been beat up. There was a round of loud applause.

"Cas!" Beth exclaimed, rushing to his side. "Are you okay?"

"I don't have much time," Cas answered.

"What happened?" Beth asked.

"I got out," Cas replied.

"From where?" I asked.

"Listen to me," Cas said, ignoring the questions. "Something is not right. This thing is much more powerful than it should be." I stopped, thinking about it.

"What thing? The Trickster?" I asked.

"If it is a trickster," Cas replied.

"What do you mean?" Beth asked. Cas didn't have a chance to reply as he was suddenly flung backwards into a wall. The Trickster appeared for the first time in I couldn't recall how long.

"Hello!" He said cheerfully amidst many cheers and applause. Castiel got up from where he'd fallen, but his mouth was suddenly duct-taped shut.

"Thank you. Thank you, ladies," the Trickster said with a slight bow, playing up to the imaginary audience. Cas glared at him, and he turned to smile at the beleaguered angel. "Hi, Castiel!"

With a gesture, Castiel vanished in a burst of static lighting.

"You know him?" Beth asked, pointing to where Cas had been standing.

"Where did you just send him?" I demanded to know. Trickster just chuckled, waving his hand dismissively.

"Relax, he'll live. ...Maybe." More laughter.

"All right, you know what? I am done with the monkey dance, okay? We get it," I said.

"Yeah? Get what, hotshot?"

"Playing our roles, right? That's your game?" I asked. It was pretty clear by now what he wanted from us.

"That's half the game," he answered with a nod.

"What's the other half?" Beth asked.

"Play your roles out there," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I queried. Now, I didn't like the sound of _that._

"Oh, you know. Sam starring as Lucifer. Dean starring as Michael. Your celebrity death match. Play your roles." Nope, didn't like it at all. I was pretty sure Beth and Sam were going to have something to say too.

"You want us to say yes to those sons of bitches?" Sam asked, right on cue.

"Hells yeah. Let's light this candle!"

"We do that, the world will end," Beth chimed in. She'd moved to stand next to me, and I slipped an arm around her waist.

"Yeah? And whose fault is that?" The Trickster asked with a shrug. "Who popped Lucifer out of the box? Hm? Look, it's started. You started it. It can't be stopped. So let's get it over with!"

Sam glared at him. I had more questions. "Heaven or Hell, which side you on?"

"I'm not on either side," he declared.

"Yeah, right," I scoffed. "You're grabbing ankle for Michael or Lucifer. Which one is it?"

"You listen to me, you arrogant dick. I don't work for either of those S.O.B.s. Believe me," he snapped in reply.

"Oh, you're somebody's bitch," I said confidently. I was getting to him. And when I got to people, they started getting sloppy.

The Trickster's smile vanished, and next thing I knew I was slammed against the wall, with his hand around my throat.

"Hey!" Beth shouted. "Let him go!" She ran up alongside us as the Trickster fumed, looking into my eyes.

"Don't you ever, ever presume to know what I am," he snarled at me, his eyes flashing with fury. "Now listen very closely. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna suck it up, accept your responsibilities, and play the roles that destiny has chosen for you." He glanced at Beth who was standing beside us. "You too."

"Me? What role is mine other than to end up a widow?" She asked.

"That's still coming," he announced.

"What a load of…" _bullshit_ I had been about to say.

"No," Beth interrupted. "No we're not doing it. _They're not doing it."_

"And you, you need to learn to let this one go - talk about psycho clingy wife," the Trickster retorted. Beth snapped, throwing a punch and landing it square against his jaw. It didn't do much, though he did lessen his grip while Sam grabbed Beth, holding her back.

"Shut up!" Beth yelled at him. "You know what, you don't know jack…"

"And if we don't?" Sam cut in, silencing Beth's rant. The Trickster grinned.

"Then you'll stay here in TV Land. Forever. Three hundred channels and, uh, nothing's on." He stepped back from me and snapped his fingers, and suddenly the scene changed again.

* * *

 _ **CSI MIAMI**_

 **Dean's POV**

This was ridiculous. No, scrap that. It was ludicrous.

I was stared at a crime scene, middle of the night, cop cars all over the place with lights flashing, and police tape cordoning off the area. A man with a stomach wound was the centre of the event, medical examiner was checking him out, cameras were flashing. Next to me, Sam was dressed in the same suit, matching blue shirt, and wearing sunglasses - like me.

"Oh, come on!" I complained as a police officer ducked under the crime scene tape and approached us.

"So, what do you think?" He asked.

"What do I think? I think go screw yourself, that's what I think," I replied. Sam stepped in between us, smiling at the cop.

"Uh, could you give us a sec, please? Thanks," he said, and the officer nodded and turned away.

"You gotta calm down," Sam said as soon as we were alone.

"Calm down?" I spluttered. "I am wearing sunglasses at night!" I yanked the damn things off my face. "You know who does that? No-talent douchebags." Sam nodded in agreement, but I noticed he didn't remove his glasses.

"I hate this game," I continued. "I hate that we're in a procedural cop show and you wanna know why? Because I hate procedural cop shows. There's like three hundred of them on television and they're all the freaking same. It's ooh, plane crashed here—oh shut up."

I stopped, watching as Beth walked up to us in a dark suit, her ID stating that she was the Medical Examiner.

"Here I am in supporting cast again," she said, shrugging.

I looked her over. Short skirt, sensible but still kind of sexy footwear. I would hit on it. "I'll take you over the lead role any day," I said, gesturing to Sam. Beth smirked and nodded toward the scene.

"Check out sweet tooth over there," she said. I followed her lead and noticed a cop, sucking on a lollipop.

"Think that's him?"

"Yep," she replied.

Sam pulled his glasses off, eyes fixing on the copy. "Just, um, follow my lead," he said, and started walking. I watched him for a moment and then shrugged at Beth who started to follow. Sam put on his glasses again as we reached the tape, I copied. Hell, if I was gonna do this, I might as well look good doing it. Beth sniggered as the tape was raised for us, and we stepped into the crime scene.

"You, uh, you okay?" The officer said as we reached the body.

"Yeah," I replied in a deep voice. "What do we got?"

"Well, aside from the ligature marks around his neck, he has what appears to be a roll of quarters jammed down his throat," was the reply.

I took off my sunglasses, and crouched down with a flashlight to take a closer look.

"Well I say, jackpot," Sam said, taking off his glasses. The Officer looked up, snorting in amusement.

"Also, there is a stab wound to the lower abdomen," said the Trickster, pointing to the bloodstained top with his lollipop. I leaned down to poke at the wound with a stick, drawing a chuckle from the cop. Beth was slowly walking around the scene, watching. I stood up, put my sunglasses back on and grinned.

"Well I say, no guts, no glory," I punned at him. The guy laughed, actually laughed, and Sam continued the amusing banter. Putting his sunglasses back on too, Sam pointed at the corpse.

"Get that guy a TUMS," he chuckled.

"Gutter ball," I added. The cop kept laughing.

"Good one guys," he snorted out. I nodded at Sam, and then moved behind the cop as he continued to laugh. As I moved, he did too, turning to face me. I took the stick I'd picked up off the ground and rammed it through his chest, right into his beating heart. With a splutter, he collapsed, struggling to breathe.

No one noticed, or at least seemed to care, except one. This was the moment we'd been waiting for. No more tricks. As another cop stepped up to us, laughing, he morphed into the Trickster before our very eyes.

"You've got the wrong guy, idiots," he said. I looked over his shoulder, and then locked eyes with him.

"Did we?" I asked, watching as Beth moved in behind him, stake in hand, and stabbed the guy with it. He fell over in a burst of static.

Suddenly we were standing back in the Warehouse we'd first entered, the Trickster on the ground at our feet. Beth nudged him with the toe of her boot, and I realised we were back in to the clothes we'd been wearing when we first went after the Trickster. It was over.

"It's always the ones you least expect…." Beth commented before tossing me a grin.

* * *

 _ **The Next Day  
MOTEL ROOM**_

 **Dean's POV**

It had been a great night. Finally I felt like I'd had a decent night's sleep. I finished brushing my teeth and then spat out the toothpaste, before leaning down to drink out of the tap, gargle and spit again.

"I'm worried, guys. What that SOB did to Cas. You know, where is he?" I called out behind me into the main room. I was greeted with silence.

"Sam?" I pulled on my tshirt and poked my head into the room. "Beth? Where are you?"

That didn't seem right. I picked up my phone off the nightstand, tucking my gun into the back of my pants, and then dialed Beth, walking out the door. As I hit the car park, I heard her ridiculous ringtone _Fireflies_ … some recent song she'd heard on the radio and said it picked up her mood.

"Hey!" I called out, seeing her weaving through two cars carrying donuts and coffee. "Where's Sam?"

"Isn't he with you?"

"No," I muttered, shaking my head. I looked down at my phone and dialled Sam, inclining my head to the car where Beth put the donuts on the hood, and handed me a large coffee.

" _It's Sam. Leave me a message.."_

"Sam. It's me. Where the hell did you go?" I said to his voicemail, snapping my phone shut.

"Dean?" A robotic voice sounded, and I stood up, looking around.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," Beth confirmed, walking around the other side of the car and looking in the window.

"Sam? Where are you?" She asked as I popped the trunk to make sure he wasn't locked in there for some weird reason.

"I don't know," Sam's hollow sounding voice sounded again. As I closed the trunk, I saw red lights flash on the dash of the car through the back window.

"Crap," I muttered, moving to confirm what Beth was already seeing. There was a Knight Rider get up going on inside Baby, and it was flashing in time with Sam's words.

"I don't think we killed the Trickster," Beth said with a grimace.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Next thing we knew we were driving. To the Knight Rider theme song. The Impala had gained red, flashing lights under the front grill too. Dean was not impressed.

"Okay, stake didn't work. So, what, this is another trick?" Dean asked as he steered the car down the road.

"I don't know. Maybe the stake didn't work because it's not a trickster?" Sam asked, the red lights flashing as he talked. I had to admit, this was new, talking to a car.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"You heard Cas. He said this thing was too powerful to be a trickster," Sam continued. I was nodding, thinking back over the interaction that had occurred during the Nutcracker.

"And did you notice the way he looked at Cas? Almost like he knew him," I pointed out.

"And how pissed he got when you brought up Michael and Lucifer," Sam added.

"Dammit!" I exclaimed. It was starting to fall into place.

"What?" Sam and Dean asked in unison.

"I think I know what we're dealing with. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner," I said, smacking my forehead in frustration. Suddenly it all made sense.

A short while later we'd stopped outside of town where there wasn't any people around. I was rummaging through the trunk of the car, looking for the supplies we'd stocked from months ago.

"Beth?" Sam's metallic voice sounded.

"Yeah?"

"That, uh, feels really uncomfortable," he finished. I stood up, grabbing a zippo from the truck and Dean shut it behind me.

"Ow!" Sam exlaimed. "You sure this is gonna work?"

"No," I said, looking around. "But I have no other ideas."

Dean moved around the front of the car, shouting up at the sky. "All right, you son of a bitch! Uncle! We'll do it!"

"Should I honk?" Sam asked, making me smile.

It wouldn't be necessary. The _Trickster_ appeared suddenly, and took in the Impala/Sam. "Wow. Sam. Get a load of the rims on you."

"Eat me," Sam replied with a flash of red lights.

"Okay, boys. Ready to go quietly?" The blonde haired mischievous man asked.

"Whoa whoa whoa, not so fast. Nobody's going anywhere until Sam has opposable thumbs," Dean said, pointing at the car. I started to casually wander around the back of the Trickster.

"What's the difference?" The Trickster asked, stepping toward Dean a little. "Satan's going to ride his ass one way or another."

Dean gave him the death stare, and with a roll of his eyes, the man snapped his fingers. The KITT lights on the Impala disappeared, and Sam climbed out of the front seat.

"Happy?" The Trickster asked Dean.

"Tell me one thing. Why didn't the stake kill you?" Dean asked, stalling for time as I brushed past the Trickster, causing him to take that one final step forward…

"I am the Trickster," he said.

"Or, maybe you're not," I said, seizing the moment. I flipped the zippo open and dropped the flaming lighter on to the oil at our feet. I stepped back as a ring of fire sprung up around the man. "Maybe you've always been an angel.'

The man laughed, and shook his head. "A what? Somebody slip a mickey in your power shake, kid?"

Dean crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell you what. You just jump out of the holy fire and we'll call it our mistake."

The man laughed again, but then stopped. He was caught, and he knew it.

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
WAREHOUSE  
Wellington, Ohio**_

 **Beth's POV**

"Well played, kids," the angel said finally, as the make believe world of _Knight Rider_ faded around us into the Warehouse we'd been in earlier. "Well played. Where'd you get the holy oil?"

"Well, you might say we pulled it out of Sam's ass," Dean snickered.

"Where'd I screw up?" He asked, looking at me.

"You didn't. Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did," Dean replied.

"Mostly it was the way you talked about Armageddon," I added.

"Meaning?"

"Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talking about their own family," Dean said with a shrug.

"So which one are you?" Sam asked. "Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?"

The angel sighed, looking at all three of us, and then shrugged. "Gabriel, okay?" He said. "They call me Gabriel."

I was floored. It couldn't be. "Gabriel?" I asked. "The archangel?"

"Guilty," he confessed with a nod.

"Okay, Gabriel. How does an archangel become a trickster?" Dean asked.

"My own private witness protection," he said. "I skipped out of Heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world. Till you two screwed it all up."

I didn't even know where to start with the questions. Gabriel had been one of God's messengers, important, and so to find him here… pretending to be a Trickster… that was big.

"What did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?" Dean asked.

" _Daddy_ doesn't say anything about anything," Gabriel replied with a sneer.

"Then what happened? Why'd you ditch?" Sam asked.

"Do you blame him? I mean, his brothers are heavyweight douchenozzles," Dean cut in. This was more than Gabriel could take.

"Shut your cakehole! You don't know anything about my family. I love my father, my brothers, sisters. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again."

"Then help us stop it," I said, stepping closer. Maybe Sam had been right all along. Maybe this was the ally we were looking for.

Gabriel looked sadly at me, shaking his head. "It can't be stopped."

"You wanna see the end of the world?" Dean pressed.

"I want it to be over!" Gabriel snapped. "I have to sit back and watch my own brothers kill each other thanks to you two! Heaven, Hell, I don't care who wins, I just want it to be over."

"It doesn't have to be like that. There has to be some way to, to pull the plug," Sam, ever the one to be looking for alternatives, said.

Gabriel laughed, this time it was with a slightly hysterical tone to it.

"You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in Heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other." Gabriel shook his head as if he was pointing out the obvious to us and we just weren't getting it.

"What the hell are you saying?" Dean queried.

"Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always."

 _Always?_ I bit my lip, thinking about that whole _destiny_ thing. Everyone paused, thinking it over. Sam and Dean looked down at their feet, then up at each other.

"No," Dean said, shaking his head. "That's not gonna happen."

"I'm sorry. But it is," Gabriel replied.

"You're wrong," I finally managed to spit out.

Gabriel sighed, looking around at all of us. "Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow...but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gotta be."

* * *

 **WAREHOUSE  
Wellington, Ohio**

 **Dean's POV**

"So. Now what?" Gabriel asked. "We stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"

"Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him," I said, circling around to slide my arm around Beth, who was looking a little green around the gills. She never did seem to do well when we started imprisoning angels.

"Oh am I?" Gabriel smirked.

"Yeah," I said, feeling Beth's hand grasp mine as it rested on her hip, and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel."

Gabriel sighed and snapped his fingers, there was a whooshing sound and then Cas was standing next to us.

"Cas, you okay?" I asked, looking at him.

"I'm fine," Cas replied, looking at the angel trapped in the ring of holy fire. "Hello, Gabriel."

"Hey, bro," Gabriel grinned. "How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful."

Castiel didn't reply, simply glaring with disdain at the angel.

"Okay, we're out of here. Come on, Beth, Sam," I said, pulling Beth with me as I turned toward the exit to the warehouse.

"Uh. Okay. Guys?" Gabriel called out as we all left together. "You're just gonna, you're gonna leave me here forever?"

As we reached the door I turned around.

"No. We're not, 'cause we don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family." I yanked on the fire alarm next to me, and watched as Gabriel looked up and the sprinklers went off. "Don't say I never did anything for you."

Gabriel glared at us, but Beth was pulling on my hand, a forlorn look on her face. Cas hesitated, but then followed us too.

"All that stuff he was spouting in there, you think it was the truth?" I asked as we reached the Impala.

"I think he believes it," Sam replied, opening the back door.

"So what do we do?" I asked, leaning against the hood, looking from Beth, to Sam then Cas.

"I don't know," Sam replied.

"Well I'll tell you one thing. Right about now I wish I was back in a TV show," I said with a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, me too," Beth said softly. I thought about that. What I wouldn't give to be marooned on _Gilligan's Island_ right now with the important people in my life. No monsters, demons, angels or in between. Just us, with simple stuff to worry about.

* * *

 _ **Later that Night  
**_ _ **CHURCH  
**_ _ **Wellington, Ohio**_

 **Beth's POV**

Something in me was a little surprised to see Gabriel appear as I finished up my prayers. I sat back in the pew and looked over the pretty redhead that was with him.

"You remember Sariel?" Gabriel asked, and I nodded.

"It's good to see you Beth," she said with a smile.

"I didn't know if you'd come," I stated plainly. It was the truth. I'd prayed to speak with him, but given the way we'd all parted, he had no reason to be particularly endeared to us.

"Beth, I've been watching over you guys so long…" Gabriel said softly, and I could see the gentleness inside of him.

"Why won't you help us then?"

"I'm an angel Beth, I have my role to play too," he answered.

"Which is?"

"It varies," Sariel replied. "For all of us."

"You could at least help Castiel find God," I countered, standing up and running a hand through my hair.

"We're going after something better, you just have to trust us," Sariel said, glancing across at Gabriel.

"Trust you?" I laughed. "I barely know you!"

"You know us better than you think," Gabriel replied. "But it doesn't matter, the deed is done, the path is chosen, the net is cast… Michael and Lucifer are going to destroy this world, like it or not."

"That's where we need you," Sariel cut in.

"Me?" I scoffed. "What can I do?"

Gabriel sighed, rolling his eyes at Sariel. "I didn't want it to be like this."

"What?" I asked, frowning a little at him.

Gabriel stood a little straighter and cleared his throat, and when he looked at me it send a shiver down my spine.

"Elizabeth Winchester… I hereby come before you bearing joyous news."

"Oh cut the crap," I snipped at him. Sariel chuckled, an odd thing for an angel to do, and Gabriel cursed, his shoulders slumping down and the hardness in his eyes fading.

"It's always easier with wings… they like the wings," he said to Sariel before turning to me. "You're not making this very regal like… I'm about to tell you something of grave importance."

"Then tell me, enough of this destiny nonsense," I said.

Gabriel scoffed, shaking his head. "You of all people should know about destiny, Beth. Your parents? Destiny. John and Patrick becoming friends? Destiny. John coming to your rescue as a teenager? Also destiny. You and Dean were always destined to be together… it is all part of the plan."

"Whose plan?"

"God's…" Sariel said.

"This is insane," I muttered, gathering my rosary and putting it around my neck before reaching for my jacket.

"You're going to have a child, Beth. Soon," Gabriel stated plainly. I paused, hand resting on the jacket and then straightened to look at him.

"Yeah, right."

"Do I look like some cherub sitting on a cloud? I am the voice and messenger! You will bear a child Beth, who is here to change the world."

"Get out," I said, my voice shaky as I fought to control my emotions. Angels were dicks, but coming at me from this angle was just … truly dickish. "You just got done telling me that I have to let Dean and Sam fulfill their roles and destroy the planet."

"Listen to him," Sariel said, pulling my gaze to her.

"Humanity will survive, in one way or another, and someone must lead them," Gabriel said.

"No…" I shook my head.

"That someone is your daughter, who will hear the will of God," Gabriel said.

I felt the blood drain from my face. "Suddenly I know how Mary felt…."

"She didn't talk back nearly so much," Gabriel muttered.

"I suppose she was more adept at playing her role too," I countered.

"There's something to be said for the pious," Gabriel agreed, nodding.

 _Pious? Had I not been pious enough? This was…. Too much._

"Well… I already know I have a daughter coming, eventually…" I said, crossing my arms.

"You didn't know of her importance," Sariel said quietly.

"I'm not going to raise my child to be a hunter," I said confidently. We'd come up with another plan, we'd talked about it, Dean and I. We didn't want our child to have the same life that Dean and Sam had growing up.

"She won't be a hunter, she's something else," Gabriel said.

"That's enough, Gabriel," Sariel cautioned. Now I was curious.

"No, I want to know," I said.

"Not all can be revealed at once, it's too much to comprehend," Sariel insisted. I scowled at them and Gabriel sighed at me.

"Go, make love to your husband," he said, "fight while you can Beth, but know this: destiny is calling and soon enough you're going to have to say goodbye to Dean and Sam."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: Chances by Five for Fighting

Hope you enjoyed my take on this. It was a challenge to put into text, given the extremely visual aspect and changes of this episode. I hope I did it some justice.

The Star Wars scene just _had_ to be added in. RIP & May the Force be with you, Carrie - Love you!

More of the Angel storyline will be coming now, as I get around to writing Gabriel and Sariel's story. Now that we've discovered Gabriel's true identity, I can start to weave _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ in amongst the updates - I didn't want to get too far ahead on their story or it would add in spoilers for this one!

Thanks for reading, and as always, please leave a review as it makes me happy and encourages me to keep writing!

 **QUESTION!**

Up next is the Supernatural Convention. With Beth! This is going to be fun :)

So, if you were at the convention during question time, what would you want to ask Chuck about Beth? Or Dean & Beth? Or anything to do with the Dean & Beth SPN world :)


	10. The Real Ghostbusters

_Oooooh oooh_

 _Creatures seem to scream and fade  
_ _Shadows bleed and the locks will break  
_ _Questions we could never solve  
_ _As answers in darkness evolved_

 _Oooh oooh_

 _Move in space but not in time  
_ _Choices made but nothing's right  
_ _Flakes of memory plagued by disease  
_ _Have I only seen what I wanna see_

 _Oooh oooh_

 _The dream I take to awake  
_ _When my mind's a mess_

* * *

 **THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS  
**

* * *

 _ **Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
**_ _ **Beth's POV**_

 _And just like that they vanished. I spun around, my hands stretched out to either side, glaring at the ornate church ceiling._

" _Oh yeah?!" I shouted at the empty room. "Well, think again! You're wrong!" I could feel my heart thumping inside my chest. I wasn't just going to accept some Heavenly mumbo jumbo that may or may not be true. We made our own destiny, we wrote our own future, always had and always would._

" _Beth?"_

Dean's voice caused me to spin around, and then suddenly I was back in our room at Bobby's, staring at twinkling christmas lights that Dean had never taken down.

"Argh," I groaned, feeling my head spin as I realised I was lying on the bed. Dean was hovering next to me, a concerned look on his face.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," I muttered, nodding and sitting up. I wrapped my arms around my knees and felt the satisfactory pull of my shoulder muscles stretching.

"Who were you shouting at? You sounded pretty pissed," he asked, dropping his duffel on the bed and starting to shove clothes into it without fanfare. I watched, my mind slipping back to the dream. It had been on repeat since I'd talked to Gabriel. Part of me didn't mind the whole _off to start a family_ premonition, it was what we'd wanted when we moved to Minnesota. The more practical part of me was screaming in protest, _the mission, we have a mission…._ Never mind that the mission was to kill the Devil, and likely die in doing so. Even more reason to not make plans for the future.

"Beth?" Dean's voice and accompanying frown prodded me back into the room once more, and I let out a big sigh, reaching for an answer, settling on...

"God…"

Dean's eyebrow arched with amusement. He shoved a shirt into the corner of his bag with the same force of a kid trying to cram as much candy into a halloween sack as possible. Seemingly satisfied with his efforts, he shrugged and walked toward me. "Is he answering?"

I slipped my arms around his waist, melting into the warmth of his torso as I pulled him close, murmuring, "maybe… I don't know."

My frustration was echoed in the sound of Dean's reply. "Yeah," he said, the single word riding a heavy sigh. "That's what I figured." His arms tightened around my shoulders, squeezing me lightly. He paused, contemplatively silent, and then kissed the top of my head before returning to shove a final shirt into his bag.

"We going somewhere?" I asked, my brain finally kicking into some semblance of understanding that he was packing a bag.

"Ohio."

"What's in Ohio?"

"Chuck," he replied, pulling the teeth of the zipper together and tugging on the slider to get it closed. "Got a text, life or death situation."

"What the hell does that mean? He has the protection of an archangel."

"I don't know," Dean admitted, his shoulders slumping and betraying how tired he was, even after our short respite at Bobby's. "But… it's Chuck, prophet of the lord and all that. Figure we should go see what it's about. He ain't answering our calls."

I nodded and swung my legs off the bed, "I take it we're leaving now?"

Dean paused in the open doorway and glanced back, nodding.

"Figures," I sighed, picking up my own bag, which I noticed he had already packed. "Can't ever catch a break. These last couple of days have been… nice."

He grimaced and held out his hand to me, squeezing my fingers as I took it in my own. "Yeah," he agreed. He hesitated, and a thought I couldn't quite read flashed across his face, before sinking behind guarded eyes. "You know we could just send Sam," he suggested. There was something in the quaver of his voice, which I couldn't place, something that scared me more than I'd been scaring myself these last few days. I made a note to pick it up right after this latest drama, in the meantime, I parked it in the waiting bay of the drive through of my mind.

"To a life and death situation?" I asked, letting my amusement slide over my face. Dean mirrored my smile, and shook his head softly.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Not our best option."

"I don't think so," I smiled. "No, it's… it's Chuck. It could be important, we can pick up here once we're done."

* * *

 _ **Vermillion, Ohio  
Dean's POV**_

I was exhausted. Not that I was letting anyone in on that. Our encounter with Gabriel had been nerve wracking to say the least and we had hightailed it back to Sioux Falls to let Bobby know what was going on, and also have some much needed rest. Two days was all we'd been afforded before Chuck's text came in.

Vermillion, Ohio.

That's where he was, and there was a matter of life and death. No further details, and we'd hit the ground running.

Vermillion. By the shores of Lake Erie, the perfect spot for water spirits, and we'd found a few ghouls here in our time. My mind ran over and over the various possibilities of what we might find when we got there. I was wound up as tight as an elastic band about to snap. If we didn't get a break on something to help with this insane mission to kill the Devil, I didn't know what we were going to do.

"Pineview Hotel, there it is," Beth stated, pointing to a little old fashioned wood sign hanging near a driveway. I took the turn without signalling, and roared up the pavement to the front of the building. I spotted Chuck pacing by the steps and he then disappeared from view behind some bushes. I felt an urgency bubble up inside of me that had been well masked until now.

"Come on, there he is," I said, jumping out of the car. As I rounded the Impala, I stopped short, staring. Looking to the left I saw a row of Impalas, black, all parked next to the hotel.

"What the…"

"Whoa…" Beth breathed next to me. "That's kind of…

"Weird," I finished for her.

"Yeah."

"Hey!" Sam called out to us, already several yards away. "Come on!" Sam sprinted ahead toward Chuck, who hadn't noticed us yet. The prophet's feet drug heavily on the bitumen at the foot of the stairs leading up to the hotel. "Chuck! There you are!" Sam announced as he approached.

Chuck's expression was not the relief I was expecting to see. In fact, he looked downright surprised at our approach.

"Guys?" He asked, his eyes widening, and then a frown creased his brow.

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping up to him.

"Ah, nothing. You know, I'm just kinda hanging," he replied with a shrug. His demeanour couldn't be less urgent, it certainly didn't fall into the _life or death_ category of reactions.

"What are you guys doing here?" His question was genuine, which concerned me more.

"What do you mean, 'what are we doing here'?" Beth stepped in.

"You told us to come," I pointed out. Chuck shook his head, his curls bouncing slightly on his head.

"Ah, no I didn't," he said.

"Yeah,you did, you texted me. This address, life or death situation. Any of this ringing a bell?" Sam cut in. Chuck was looking just as perplexed as I was feeling. Was this some sort of joke?

"I didn't send you a text," he insisted. I felt my patience break, a telltale sign that our two days respite hadn't been enough.

"We drove all night!" I snapped.

"I'm sorry," Chuck said apologetically. "I don't understand what could…." he paused, looking as if a lightbulb went off inside his skull. "Oh no…"

"What?" I asked.

"Chuck? What's going on?" Beth said, crossing her arms over her chest, delivering him a stern look.

"Sam!" There was an excited squeal from the top of the stairs, and we all turned curiously at the noise, seeing a bubbly blonde jumping up and down near the front door. "You made it!" She quickly skipped down the worn cement stairs to land in front of our confused brother.

"Oh," Sam said, frowning and glancing at Beth who was kind of gaping in disbelief. "Ah, Becky, right?"

I recognised her once he said her name. The quirky little obsessed blonde who we'd met through Chuck about six months ago. She thought the world revolved around Sam, and that Beth was beautiful, and I was... _not what she expected._ Like what the hell did that mean anyway? I squared my shoulders and puffed out my chest, clearing my throat.

"Oh, you remembered," she said, staring up at Sam all moon-eyed. "You've been thinking about me." Her voice lowered and she tried to change her expression to something more seductive, but it just came off as slightly… psychotic to me. I rolled my eyes, looking over at Beth who was struggling to hide a smile.

Sam looked uncomfortably about. "I…"

"It's okay," she interrupted. "I can't get you out of my head either."

Chuck was looking more and more agitated by the minute, his eyes wide and sweeping between Becky and Sam.

"Becky, did you take my phone?" He asked pointedly. Becky's concentration on Sam was broken by the question, and she glanced sideways.

"I just borrowed it," she replied, "from your pants…" I couldn't tell if the little guy wanted to yell or cry, his face a mixture of frustration and embarrassment.

Chuck shook his head. "Becky…"

"What?" She asked. "They're gonna want to see it!"

My interest was instantly piqued, and terrified at the same time.

"See what?" I said in unison with Sam and Beth.

"Oh my God!" Becky squealed. "I love it when they all talk at the same time!"

"Is she kidding?" I muttered under my breath to Beth, who was looking as equally perplexed.

I found myself comparing the woman beside me to the erratic blonde practically panting in front of Sam. There was no competition. Beth's dark locks hung halfway down her back in waves, and she looked stylish and comfortable in jeans and a red shirt, with her black leather jacket over the top. Becky, on the other hand looked like something out of the Brady Bunch. Her long blonde hair was flawlessly straightened, a blue denim vest over a blue and white flannel shirt with short puffed sleeves. I didn't want to look again in case her attentions turned from my brother to me, but I was pretty sure she was wearing a brown skirt that hit her knees, socks pulled up to her knees and mary jane style shoes. I chuckled, thinking that you couldn't get two women more different.

"Hey Chuck!"

I looked up to the front of building and saw a chubby man with dark hair and a beard, holding a clipboard. "Come on pal," he continued. "It's showtime."

Becky let out a few short, excited breaths, and ran up the stairs after the man without any further words. Chuck grimaced, looking at us as if he was experiencing kidney stones. "Guys," he said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry…. For everything." Then he trudged ahead of us, up the stairs and disappeared from view.

"Well what the hell does that mean?" I asked, staring after him.

"I'm not sure I want to know…" Beth muttered under her breath.

"Only one way to find out," Sam said, taking the first step toward the stairs.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Unlike the exterior, it was a hive of activity inside the hotel. As we stepped into the foyer a large, round faced man walked past in a brown leather jacket carrying a stein of beer. He looked us up and down and chuckled.

"Hahaha… hey Dean, looking good!" His familiarity with my husband was kind of creepy. How did he know who Dean was?

Dean frowned, watching as the man kept walking. "Who the hell are you?" He called out, clearly none the wiser over the stranger's identity than I was.

The man stopped and turned, a grin spreading across his face. For the first time I noticed the amulet hanging around his neck - the same one that Dean had always worn up until Cas took it to look for God.

"I'm Dean too," he said with a shrug, as if it were obvious. "Duh."

Something shadowy moved out of the corner of my eye and I startled, jumping back a step and drawing my gun.

"Hey, whoa!" Becky shrieked beside me. I felt Dean reach out, his hand not quite touching, but almost guiding me to relax. I took a deep breath, staring at the very same creepy scarecrow we'd come across in Indiana years ago.

The scarecrow turned to look at us, a scarred costume over his face. "Uh-oh!" He said, waving a can of soda in one hand, and his scythe in the other. "It's Dean and Beth, I'm in trouble now!" He did a little jig in front of us. "That things not real is it?" He asked, looking at my gun. I quickly tucked it into the back of my pants and he laughed, completely oblivious to how close I'd come to shooting him in the face.

"Have fun you guys! Aaaah!"

Becky was giggling beside us as Dean turned to look incredulously at her. "What is….?" His question was cut off by another shriek from nearby.

"Oh my god! You are the best looking Beth yet!" A blonde, in a halloween nurse's costume, declared. She ran up and started jumping excitedly in front of us as she looked me up and down.

"Uh what?" Dean asked. "Who are you?"

"Well, duh," she answered, putting her hand on her hip and rolling her eyes. "I'm Cole, your _other_ sister! I know she's not as popular, but… she has sass." I looked over the girl and raised an eyebrow. I was pretty sure I'd never seen Cole get around in an actual nurse's costume, even when she was working at the hospital. Miss Cole seemed concerned at the raised eyebrow, quickly jumping in. "No offence, Beth is awesome too."

"Huh," I said with a glance at Dean who was staring wide-eyed in horror. "Yeah, thanks."

"Hey! We're all here, let's get a photo!" Said _Cole._ She handed Becky a camera and smiled. "Do you mind?"

Becky shook her head and jumped in front of the four of us before anyone could complain. "You guys look great!"

Nurse Cole struck a pose with us as Becky snapped a few pics, before giggling happily and taking back her camera. "Thanks guys, see you around!"

Dean was still staring with his mouth hanging open.

"You know Cole would shoot her if she could see this…" he said randomly and I laughed.

Becky started to walk further into the foyer, rounding a large pot plant that had been obscuring our view. I followed, and found a group of people assembled. I stopped short, Dean running into the back of me.

"Holy…" I was speechless. The room was filled with people dressed as every conceivable monster we'd ever come across - clowns, werewolves, demons, ghosts… I was pretty sure I could even see a skinny woman dressed in the same clothes Bobby wore...and Ash. Dotted around the room were tables with merchandise like coffee mugs sporting the Impala, the Supernatural books, posters of devil's traps and more.

"Becky, what is this?" Sam asked.

"It's awesome!" Becky replied as enthusiastically as she did everything else. "A Supernatural convention, the first ever."

Sam's facial expression said it all. This was not good. Dean still looked completely confused, as I returned to staring at other Deans, Beths and Sams in the room.

"Oh boy…" I muttered. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

We were in my nightmares. I thought I'd had some pretty bad ones in the lead up to Hell, and worse after I'd gotten out. But even the ridiculous TV network gameshows Gabriel had put us through a week or so ago couldn't compare to this.

We were in a conference room, standing at the back of a small crowd, all seated and facing the stage opposite. The same man from earlier who had called out to Chuck stepped up to the microphone and smiled.

"Welcome to the first annual Supernatural convention. At 3.45 in the Magnolia room we have the panel, 'Frightened little boy, the secret life of Dean'. And at 4.30 there's the 'Homoerotic subtext of Supernatural.'"

 _Wait… the what?_

What the hell was he talking about, homoerotic subtext?!

I must have bristled beside Beth, because her hand shot out to squeeze my arm and I frowned, wondering if I could possibly be more unhappy with the whole situation.

"Oh, and of course the big hunt starts at 7pm sharp." There was a round of cheers and applause as the man nodded happily. "But right now, right now I'd like to introduce the man himself. The creator, the writer of the supernatural books. The one, the only, Carver Edlund!"

Chuck walked out on stage to even more applause, he nervously peered out at the group and jumped as the microphone fed back into a squeal.

"Okay," he said, chuckling. "Okay good, this isn't nearly as awkward as I..." his voice trailed off and he attempted to clear his throat. "Dry mouth…" Chuck stepped to the side and grabbed a bottle of water sitting on a chair nearby, twisting the cap off as people watched and waited. He took several long gulps of water, the sounds echoing through the room as silence met him from the expectant crowd.

"Okay." Chuck finally finished his drink. Turning back to the microphone. "Uh...ahem. So I guess...questions?"

Every hand in the room shot up except for Sam, Beth and me. Chuck looked startled at the enthusiasm and then pointed to a guy. "Uh...you?"

The man leaped to his feet, revealing that he was just as tall as Sam, and also dressed like my brother. I deduced that he was going for that look, and leaned forward to look pointedly at Sam who scowled at my silent grin.

"Hey, Mr Edlund. Uh...big fan," he said with a goofy smile. "I was just wondering, where'd you come up with Sam, Dean and Beth in the first place?

I smirked and crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow as Chuck looked up at the three of us standing behind the group. This was going to be interesting.

"Oh," Chuck said nervously. "Ah, I… it just came to me."

I dropped my head back, looking at the ceiling and felt my eyes roll into the back of my head. I was in Hell. No doubt about it - he couldn't even come up with a good cover story. N my sleep, I could lie better than him. Before us, hands shot into the air again.

"Ok. Yeah. The hook man," Chuck said. Another tall man, this time sporting a long brown leather coat, and an elaborate pirate hat with a large plume, along with a fake hook on his hand, stood up.

"Ah yah. Vhy in every fight scene, Sam, Beth and Dean are having their gun knocked away by the bad guy? Vhy don't they keep it on some kind of bungee?" He asked in a heavy German accent. I felt slightly insulted at the insinuation that we were clumsy. To my right, Sam and Beth both looked curious at the question, watching Chuck for an answer.

"I...yeah, I really don't know," Chuck replied. _Boring._ Hookman didn't stop to comment, jumping straight into the next question.

"Ja, follow up. Why can't Sam be telling that Ruby is evil? I mean she is clearly manipulating Sam into some kind of moral lapse. It's obvious, nein?" Now he was talking, I nodded, glancing over at Sam.

"And why didn't Dean tell Beth about her?!" Another woman called out from the crowd. Beth turned to raise an eyebrow at me.

"It's a good question," she said, crossing her arms. I realised that the question hadn't really put Sam _or_ myself in a good light and cleared my throat, shifting nervously closer to Beth who watched me with a slight frown.

Becky seemed more perturbed than any of us by the questioning. She was off, racing down the side of the group and coming to a stop closest to Hookman. "HEY!" She shouted. "If you don't like the books don't read em Fritz!"

Fritz, as Hookman's name seemed to be, glanced awkwardly at Becky and then back at Chuck. "Okay," the latter said, raising his hand placatingly to Becky. "Okay, just..okay, it's okay. so, next question." More hands shot into the air and Chuck pointed to a girl. "Yeah, you."

"Yeah, why did you bring a baby into the books at all?" She asked. "I mean, it just seems a little cruel to put Beth and Dean through that."

Oh boy.

Beth took in a sharp breath beside me, and I met eyes with Sam over her head, worried.

"Yeah, hasn't she lost enough?" This time the nurse _Cole_ from earlier jumped up, chiming in to the question with a scowl.

"Lost enough?" Another woman, this one dressed as a demon, asked. "It was completely pointless to the plot. I mean, really? Who gets pregnant in the middle of all this?" Beth opened her mouth, but nothing was coming out. I had to get us out of here, and fast.

Chuck swallowed hard, looking back at us. "Uh…."

"Come on, let's go," I decided, slipping my arm around Beth's waist and guiding us to the door.

"Well…" Chuck started to answer as we attempted to leave, "sometimes…. Sometimes we need to experience great sorrow..in order to love...'"

Beth stopped short, turning to look incredulously at him. I locked eyes with her, my hand squeezing her arm.

"Is he kidding?" She asked, eyes flicking back to Chuck and the stage, where he was looking at us in terror..

"Beth…" I cautioned, hoping we could just get out of the room before we all shot Chuck dead.

"Really?" She asked louder.

Chuck cleared his throat as I pushed her toward the door.

"Uh, next question?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, at the end of the last book, Dean goes to Hell. So, what happens next?" This time I stopped. Sam pushed the door in front of us open, but none of us were moving.

"Yeah, what about Beth? You can't keep them apart forever!" Nurse Cole called out.

"Forget about Beth! What about Sam? He has to feel so guilty, and it's not his fault!" Another voice from the crowd.

"Oh. Well there lies an announcement, actually. You're all going to find out," Chuck said. His gaze darted over toward the three of us, paused on the threshold of the room.

"Thanks to a wealthy Scandinavian investor…. we're going to start publishing again."

The room erupted into yelling and cheers, people leaped out of their seats, clamoring for a chance to clap Chuck on the back. Becky squealed in front of us, jumping up and down.

All I could think about was whiskey…. It was going to take a lot of whiskey to improve this day.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Chuck and Becky were sitting at a little table, two elaborate yellow cocktails in front of them when we found them. Becky's eyes lit up as soon as she spotted Sam next to us, and she beamed a smile that could have doubled as a lighthouse on the cliffs of Dover.

"Oh, hi Sam!"

Sam nodded at her slightly, clearly uncomfortable with the attention, as Dean stepped in, peering at Chuck.

"Excuse us," he said. "In case you haven't noticed, our plates are kind of full, okay? Finding the Colt, hunting the devil. We don't have time for this crap."

Becky was batting her eyes and rolling her neck to flip her hair around in an obvious attempt to send Sam some _come hither_ looks, and he was trying not to notice the poor smitten girl. Right now, I was too furious to even feel sorry for her.

"Hey, I didn't call you!" Chuck exclaimed.

"He means the books, Chuck. Why are you publishing more books?" Sam cut in.

Chuck shrugged, stumbling over his words. "Um...for food and shelter?"

"Food… and shelter?" I spluttered. Even though it was Chuck, there was a rage building inside of me that was telling me just pull my gun… and shoot him. Archangel protection be damned.

"Who gave you the rights to our life story?" Dean asked, leaning over the table and getting right in Chuck's face. That made me nervous for a moment, after all, when it came to going off on a tangent, Dean tended to jump faster than I did… I looked up, waiting for that piercing white light to appear if we pushed this too far.

"An Archangel, and I didn't want it!" Chuck replied without batting an eyelid. _Dick,_ I thought.

"Well, deal's off, okay? No more books. Our lives are not for...public consumption." Sam glanced at Becky as he said this, and the hungry look in her eyes said it all. She turned slowly to stare at Chuck, her expression one of slight horror. She was clearly hoping he was going to have the balls to stand up to us.

"Ah..Becky. Would you excuse us for just a second?" Chuck asked.

"Uh-huh," Becky said, nodding quickly. Chuck stood up and led the way out into the hallway, the three of us following.

"Do you guys know what I do for a living?" He asked, turning to look at us with frustration.

"Yeah Chuck, we know," Sam replied. I glanced sideways at the man, frowning. I had no idea what he did really.

"Then could you tell me? Cause I don't, alright?" Chuck said. "I'm not a good writer. I've got no marketable skills. I'm not some hero who can just hit the road and fight monsters, okay? Until the world ends, I gotta live, all right? And the Supernatural books are all I've got. What else do you want me to do?"

A scream pierced the room, echoing down the stairs.

"Dean…" I said, already pulling my gun but leaving it at my side as I started to take the stairs two at a time. Dean was hot on my heels, followed by Sam.

* * *

 **Dean's POV**

There was a woman who looked like a maid when we got to the top of the stairs. Sam dove in, his puppy dog eyes worried and piercing as he helped her to her feet.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. Beth had drawn her gun and dropped it to her side, even with the apparent danger gone, she didn't put it away. I raised an eyebrow in her direction, caught her looking at me. She shrugged. I shot her a look that basically said " _are you crazy?"_ She shook her head at me, I scowled… she put the gun away with a frown.

"I think so," the maid was saying as she caught her balance.

"What happened?" I asked, turning my attention from trigger-happy wife to damsel in distress.

"I saw a ghost," the woman said.

"A ghost?" A deep… fake… voice said from behind me. "Could you tell us what it looked like?" I turned to find myself face to face with the tall skinny, Sam wannabe from the audience earlier.

"Why don't you leave this to the grownups pal," I said, but I was largely ignored as I turned back to the woman, now speaking, and looking a lot less worried for her safety.

"A woman," she said. "She was in an old fashioned dress. Really old. Like a school marm, or something?"

"Did she say something to you?" This time another voice. I caught Beth carefully eyeing the crowd gathering behind us. Then the maid smiled.

Not really what you'd expect by someone traumatised by a ghost.

"Okay," she said, holding her hands out to her side, then raising her voice. "Gather close everybody, for a terrifying tale of terror. I saw, a ghost!"

"Oh...my...God," Beth muttered, shaking her head.

""None other than the ghost of Leticia Gore herself! I was on the third floor getting ice for a guest…"

Sam shot our resident actress-maid one of his bitch face expressions and then turned and walked. Beth and I followed him down the hallway a couple of yards.

"Ooooh, the LARPing's started!" Becky exclaimed, pushing around the crowd and joining us. Her expression was filled with the excitement of a ten year old at a Barbie birthday party.

"The...What is that again?" I asked.

"Live Action Role Playing? It's a game. The convention puts it on," she supplied, then handed Sam a piece of paper. I tried to get a closer look, it was a plain old piece of copy paper, but Sam's face turned sullen as he read it.

"What's it say Sam?" Beth asked, moved beside him.

"Dad's Journal," Sam replied. I looked up sharply, my eyes locking with Beth's as he continued to read. "'Dear Beth, Sam and Dean, this hotel is haunted. You must hunt down the ghost. Interview witnesses, discover clues, and find the bones. First team to do so wins a $50 gift card to Sizzler. Love Dad'."

"You guys are sooooo gonna win!" Becky said.

"This is ridiculous," I exclaimed.

"Yeah, for a start, Dad and I barely talked, so why am I mentioned?" Sam asked.

"He's got a point," Beth agreed. I couldn't believe they were even arguing the point on this one. There was so much more than just a phony diary entry to take contention with here, I didn't even know where to start.

"Uhhh…. It's uhhhhh," Becky was struggling to find words. I found myself a little relieved that she didn't have an answer for everything. That whiskey was looking a lot better from where I was standing. I was a couple of shots away from getting in the Impala and going back to Sioux Falls.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

The LARPing had quickly turned into one major treasure hunt. The majority of the Winchester wannabes had changed into suits, accompanied by their fake FBI badges, and were currently badgering the convention manager.

"Well yes Agents Lennon and McCartney, as manager of this fine establishment I can assure you that it is indeed haunted," said the dark haired man from earlier, clearly playing his part. "This building was once an orphanage, run by mean old Leticia Gore. 100 years ago this very night, Miss Gore went insane, and butchered four little boys before killing herself. Now folks say that the souls of those poor little boys are trapped here and the evil spirit of Miss Gore punishes them to this very day."

"Well that's just about all the community theatre I can take," Dean commented randomly.

"Yeah, this cannot get any weirder," Sam said.

The tall guy from the conference, and chubby Dean from when we arrive wandered past, deep in conversation, oblivious to us standing nearby.

"Dad said…. He said I may have to kill you," _Dean_ said to the startled looking brother.

"Kill me? What the hell does that mean?" The tall _Sam_ replied.

"I don't know," his partner replied. They wandered out of hearing range as I turned to lock eyes with Dean, the same reaction clear in his expression. We'd just hit a point of no return, and there was only one thing to save us from the joy of all the participants in our very own nightmare conference.

"I need a drink," we said at the same time.

Whiskey. Straight up. And keep 'em coming.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

Beth had wandered off to the bathroom, I was in charge of lining up the drinks, and making sure we didn't run out. I downed a shot glass of whiskey and waved the bartender over. Sam slid onto the stool beside me, a beer in his hand, as he stared into the frothy substance.

"Pour me six, barkeep…. And keep 'em coming," I announced, slapping a hundred dollar bill down on the smooth wooden surface before us. I had two options, my morose and sulking brother to the right, or, to the left…a woman dressed in an old fashioned dress with white foundation on her face…. _Letitia Gore ghost_ perhaps? For a ghost, she was incredibly with the times, tapping on her phone. I smiled, and summoned a line.

 _A ghostly vision. No._

 _A pale copy of the original… uh, no._

 _A talented…_ _oh screw this._

"How you doing?" I asked, going for the old tried and true, Joey Tribbiani. _God I watch too much TV._

"Busy," she replied, not even looking up. I rolled my eyes, clearly I had to do better.

"Well you sure look lovely tonight. Especially for a dead chick," I commented. She practically snorted, still staring down at her phone.

"Buddy, I have heard that line 17 times tonight, ok? And all from dudes wearing MacGyver jackets…" her voice faltered slightly at the end of her rant as she looked up and got the full _Dean treatment._ I grinned, waiting. Finally a smile as she assessed.

"But you seem different," she said, leaning forward slightly and running her eyes up and down my body.

"How so?" I teased, knowing I had her hook, line and sinker.

"Well," she replied, sliding off her stool and taking a step closer. "You don't seem scared of women."

Movement pushed in between us in a black leather jacket, a flurry of wavy hair, as Beth reached out and grabbed a shot from in front of me, lifting it to her mouth and then flipping her head back as she downed it in one mouthful.

I turned to watch appreciatively as she flipped the shot glass upside down and slammed it down on the bar, taking the next in line.

"That's…" She paused her thought to knock back a second shot. "...because he's married to one," Beth said, the second shot glass quickly joining the other. "Right Dean?"

It had been a long time since I'd seen a flash of insecurity, or jealousy, from Beth. It gave me pause for thought. Had I really been flirting with ghost girl? _More than usual?_ I opened my mouth to answer Beth when a raucous started behind us.

"For the last time I'm not making this up, okay?" Said a clearly upset guy in a Sam-style khaki jacket, to a scrawny little guy in a leather jacket (clearly wanting to be me). "She's upstairs, a real live dead ghost!" It was then that I noticed the blood trickling down the side of the guy's face.

I exchanged a curious look with Sam, whose body language had changed instantly from morose to intrigued, and then kissed Beth on the cheek.

"Excuse me," I said to both the ladies, pushing away from the bar and walking toward the pair.

"I'm sure it was just one of the ghost actors," fake Dean was trying to reassure his friend.

"Who beat the hell out of me and then vanished?" fake Sam asked.

As I started to open my mouth, Beth pushed past me and smiled at the boys. "Hey, I'm Beth, you want to tell me what happened? You saw a ghost?"

"What happened?" _Sam_ asked, looking at her, and then at his friend. "What… are you for real, this isn't a joke!"

"Who said I'm joking?" Beth asked, her face sober.

"You saw something?" Sam stepped in.

"This isn't part of the game, jerk," he said to Sam, before looking at his friend. "Look, I'm getting out of here and you should do the same." Without further argument the guy turned on his foot and walked out of the room.

"Alex, wait," his friend called out. "Hey, come back!"

The three of us watched together as the pair moved quickly into the crowded lobby.

"What do you think?" Sam asked.

"I don't think that guy's a good enough an actor to be acting," I replied. The night was starting to get interesting.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

This was going to be a long night. I had lost out on the vote to return to the bar and keep drinking. I agreed with Dean, something had clearly upset Alex, but right now I wasn't sure I cared.

"Why yes agents Jagger and Richards. As manager of this fine establishment I can assure you it is indeed haunted…." the conference manager was in fine form, spieling his script for every Tom, Dick and Harry around. We were headed for the front desk, where hopefully there was a greater likelihood of getting real information.

"Excuse us, mind if we ask you a few questions?" Dean asked, getting there first. The Hotel Manager, a middle-aged balding man in a dark suit, rolled his eyes when he saw us.

"Look, I don't have time to play Star Wars guys. Go ask the guy in the ascot," he said, looking back down at his paperwork.

I slapped a fifty dollar bill down on the desk, and slid it across to him. "We'll only take a minute of your time," I said, Dean nodding beside me.

"Yeah...we ah...really want to talk to you," he added.

The manager looked appreciatively at the money, looking from Dean, all the way to me. "Okay," he said with a chuckle. "You guys are really into this."

"Story of our life buddy," I commented.

"You have no idea," Sam agreed.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, taking the money and sliding it into his jacket pocket.

"All this stuff they're saying. This place being haunted. Leticia Gore. Any truth to it?" Sam asked, looking around the lobby.

The man nodded slightly, and leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping. "We generally don't like to publicise this to...normal people...but yeah. 1909 this place was called 'Gore Orphanage'. Miss Gore, killed four boys with a butchers knife, then offed herself."

"And is tonight really her anniversary?" Dean asked, mirroring my thoughts exactly.

"Yep, guess your convention folks want authenticity," the manager confirmed.

My stomach was sinking, and it wasn't just the whiskey shots. Part of me was starting to see how all our hunts started, before we got there to save the day. I didn't like it any better knowing that we were possibly ahead of the game this time.

"There been any sightings?" Sam continued.

"Yep, over the years. A few maids have quit saying they heard the boys or saw them. A janitor even saw Miss Gore once."

"Where did Miss Gore carve up the kids," Dean cut in, straight to the point. The manager hesitated, glancing around at our surroundings.

"Look, I don't want you stomping all over the joint. A lot of this place is off limits to nerds," he said. That was my cue. I slid another fifty across the desk to him, and leaned forward, showing off some of my cleavage in the tight red shirt I was wearing.

"Do we look like nerds to you?" I asked sweetly. Part of me was still smarting from Dean's innocent flirtation with the ghost girl earlier, I wasn't even sure why.

The manager reached a hand toward the fifty, but his eyes were all on the one place I intended them to be. He swallowed and then whispered softly. "The attic."

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

It was a tight fit getting into the attic through the half-door crawl space, especially with big boofhead Sam, but as soon as we were in there the EMF was going wild.

"The EMF's going nuts," Sam announced unnecessarily. I looked warily around with the room, not seeing much of anything given we only had flashlights to go by. The few items lit up by our light were covered in dust, as if they hadn't been moved in decades. An old doll's pram, some shelving, books and boxes of random items.

"Great," I muttered, glancing sideways as Beth wriggled into the room beside me. "We got a real ghost, and we got a bunch of dudes pretending to be us poking at it."

"Awesome," Beth chimed in. "So we just found our _life and death_ situation. Thanks Chuck!"

"No way this ends well," Sam agreed.

"Yeah well serves them right," I replied, earning a light getting shone in my face by Sam.

"Dean…." his tone was a warning.

"I'm just saying," I answered.

"I'm getting sick of other people's stupidity being our responsibility," Beth added in.

"Well," Sam paused, clearly trying to think of a good answer. "You know you guys could…"

"What?" I jumped in. "Retire, Sammy? Because we already did that…. Kinda."

"You know, no one asked you to come after me," Sam countered. I bristled, feeling my back muscles tighten, shoulders pull back as I pushed out my chest involuntarily, and I squinted at him under the cover of darkness.

"Yeah well, wouldn't have stopped you killing Lilith…. you were being stupid!"

"Like I said…" Beth muttered under her breath.

"No one made you guys the goddamn saviours of the planet," Sam retorted.

"Huh. Well, Cas kind of did…" I said.

"Cas pulled you out of Hell to be a puppet to a bunch of dick angels."

"Yeah, to save the planet from the Devil!"

"By wiping it off the map, good one Dean," Sam snorted.

"My mommy loves me."

"Did you hear that?" Beth asked beside me.

I froze, then spun around in the direction a little kid's voice.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to focus in on where the sound had come from, shining my flashlight to the left. "Sounded like Sammy, whining again…."

"Shut up Dean!" Sam cursed, and then his light hit on something crouched in the corner.

"There!" Beth said, focused. She shone her light where Sam's had been pointing, and I saw a little boy hunched over and holding his head. Beth stepped in closer, crouching down a few feet away while Sam and I moved up behind her. The boy spotted us, and peered up at Beth.

"I said my mommy loves me," he repeated.

"I'm sure she does," Beth replied gently.

"My mommy loves me this much!" The boy moved his hands away from his head and I took a step back, stifling a gasp of disgust. The kid's hair had been partially scalped away, leaving a huge chunk of bloody skin. Then he vanished.

"What the….?"

"Yeah," Beth said, standing up and I could see the fury in her eyes, lit up by the light from our flashlights. "This isn't gonna end well."

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Sam had been given the unenviable task of tracking down what history knew of Letitia Gore and the demise of the children in Gore Orphanage. I stood in the bathroom, hands resting against the cold porcelain sink as I stared in the mirror. The eyes looking back at me seemed alien, as if somewhere in the last few months I'd lost touch with the person I'd once been. I reached down and cupped my hands under the running water, and splashed my face.

"When it comes to Sam, Jess was the love of his life," a woman's voice said as the door to the bathroom swung open. A trio of giggling twenty-something girls barrelled into the room in jeans and leather jackets.

"No, seriously, Ruby. He loved Jess, but Ruby was practically his soulmate," the brunette said, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

"Ruby? She was a demon, she didn't love him at all!" The blonde retorted, leaning closer to the mirror beside me. "Right honey?"

"I wouldn't know," I murmured, shutting off the water.

"Well, you wouldn't," she replied with a raised eyebrow. "You're clearly a Dean girl."

"Yeah… clearly," I said, grabbing a piece of paper towelling and drying my hands.

"I think Sam's soul mate was Jo," said the other girl in the group, this one more petite, shyly offering her opinion as she glanced toward me.

The brunette snorted. "Jo! If Jo should have been with anyone it was Dean…you know I think something needs to be said for Evie and Sam…."

"Who the Hell is Evie?" the blonde asked as I rolled my eyes and opened the door, not stopping to add any further to the conversation. I practically ran out the door and bumped into Dean, coming in the other direction.

"Hey!" He said, stepping in beside me. "There you are."

"Yeah, here I am Dean," I snapped, instantly feeling bad about it when I saw the surprised look in his eyes.

"What's going on with you?" He asked.

I paused, glancing behind us as a group of Winchester wannabes ambled by, chattering about a map to find the body of Letitia Gore. I needed another drink.

"Nothing," I replied, pushing ahead of the group and skipping down the stairs, Dean followed close behind.

"Nothing my ass," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me off to the side of the stairs as we reached the bottom. "Talk to me. What's going on?"

I sucked in a deep breath, melting under the intense gaze of those apple-green eyes. "Now isn't really the time."

"When is?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "It's the freaking Apocalypse."

"Exactly!" I agreed. "You know that girl had a point."

"What girl?"

"The one in the room, earlier, about why Chuck made me have a baby in the middle of everything going on."

Dean's shoulders straightened, and I was certain his eyes darkened as he reached out and grasped my arms.

"Beth. Chuck didn't _make you_ have a baby, it just happened," he said softly. I sighed, nodding.

"I know, I know that," I said. "But you gotta admit, it was shitty timing on our part Dean."

"Yeah well…. Well…. That's life. You know? It's what happens when you're busy making other plans."

"And what about next time?" I asked.

"Next time?"

"Yeah, Dean. Next time. Next time we have an accident, or … whatever." I couldn't bring myself to tell him about Gabriel's announcement. I couldn't find the words, nor even wrap my mind around how to say it. Dean's hands squeezed slightly, pulling me back into myself even more. I met his gaze straight on, unflinching.

"What's this about?" He asked. "Are you?"

"No!" I cut in quickly, shaking my head. "But… but I could be… one day. Maybe" _Soon...if Gabriel is anything to go by._

"Yeah, of course, but like perhaps we should save the world first, huh?" Dean's smile flashed up nonchalantly, which made me return a wistful smile to him.

"Yeah… you're right. I mean, let's face it. We're most likely gonna die anyway." _There's the spirit. Plan to die before you ruin another baby's life!_

"Hey! Don't say that. Never say that."

"Think about it Dean, I'm surprised one of us isn't dead already," I countered.

"Nobody is going to die, you hear me?" Dean replied stubbornly as he pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaned into his warmth, feeling his chin come to rest on the top of my head as he tightened his grip around me. "Ain't nobody dying on my watch, sugarpie."

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I watched Sam pacing by the bar, still on the phone, while waving the bartender down and signalling for him to top up our shot glasses. When the hell had Sam become the least of my concerns? I wondered this as Beth plonked onto the stool beside me and grabbed the nearest shot glass, downing the whiskey in one go.

Becky, in all her virginal blonde obsessiveness was sitting at a table with Chuck, starring moon eyed at Sam. I watched curiously as she smiled, licked the middle of her hand and then blew a kiss to him. Ewww! Beth's splutter beside me as she choked back a second shot, told me that the move hadn't gone unnoticed on her end either. Sam froze, a perplexed expression on his face as he half waved at her in reply. Becky winked and then Sam turned and practically ran toward Beth and I, stuffing his phone into his back pocket.

"All right. So that was a guy with the County Historical Society," he announced.

"And…?" I asked, picking up a shot glass and sipping at the smooth liquid.

"Not only did Leticia Gore butcher four boys, but one of them was her own son," Sam replied.

"Her son?" Beth asked, sucking in a breath.

"Yeah. According to the police at the time, she scalped the kid," Sam said. _Ah,_ I thought. _That's the mommy's boy upstairs._ Beth looked down into her empty shot glass and frowned.

"How does someone do that to their child?" She asked softly.

"Oh that's it," I said, a piece of me breaking at the fragility of Beth's voice. "I'm gonna deep fry this bitch extra crispy. Dude say where she was buried?"

"He doesn't know," Sam answered.

"Check it out!" Said a deep gravelly voice behind us. "There's the orphanage, here's the carriage house, and right there... cemetery."

Tall Sam and fat me were sitting at the table, hovering over an old map using disturbingly deep voices that not even I could pull off.

"You think that's where Leticia's planted?" _Dean,_ who I'd also found out went by _Demian,_ asked.

"It's worth a shot," said _Sam,_ also known as _Barnes._ The real Sam was already at the table, reaching out and running his fingers over the map.

"Hey, hey!" Barnes called out, reaching for Sam's arm as Demian grabbed the map out of Sam's hand and folded it while looking at us with a stern, chastising frown.

"Do you mind?"

"It's real," Sam said, looking up at me. "A century old, at least, and he's right, there is a cemetery on the grounds."

"Where'd you get that?" I asked, looking a Demian.

"It's called a game pal. It ain't called charity," he replied in the same deep voice.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Yeah, right," I said. "Gimme the map, Chuckles."

"Yeah well you're the Chuckles, Chuckles. Besides, Dean don't listen to nobody." The guy pulled back the brown leather jacket he was wearing. Tucked into the waistband of his pants was a plastic red and yellow watergun. I almost laughed at the absurdity, and heard Beth snigger behind me.

"Dean!" Said Barnes, still in character as Sam. "Cool it."

I'd had enough. I pulled my Taurus, but Sam wasn't having any of it. "Dean!"

I paused, he shook his head at the gun I was still holding at my waist level.

"What?!" I asked. "They're freakin' annoying."

"Dean," Beth said with a frown, " _put the gun away."_

I sighed, looking at her. How could she betray me like that? We stared at each other for a moment, and I knew I wasn't going to win this argument. With a shrug, I tucked the gun back into my pants.

"See?" I said to the two chuckleheads. "You're wrong about Dean."

"Yeah?" Asked Demian.

"Yeah," I nodded, lifting my chin in Beth's direction. "I listen to her."

Beth smiled and stepped in closer. "Sometimes…"

I grinned back. "More than you know."

It was a moment we hadn't had in awhile, and then drunken Dean had to come in and ruin it. I watched, almost as if side lined, while a third Dean in a brown leather jacket staggered away from the bar and slipped his arm around Beth's shoulders.

"So uh… tonight? Maybe we could get our own motel room? Give Sammy a break from us."

Beth, god bless her, was incredibly restrained given that the kid couldn't have been more than a few days over the legal age to drink. She stepped out of the embrace, flashing me an incredulous look.

"I'm gonna kill him," I muttered as Sam reached out one of his monster arms and pushed me back a step.

"Dean…." he cautioned.

"Hey, hey, hey sugarpie, don't run away…" _drunk Dean_ said, following after her and grabbing her arm. I saw red and pulled my gun.

"No, I'm really gonna…"

Beth moved faster than I did. With one simple twist she had his arm at a right angle, pushed up behind his back as his cheek was pressed into the table Demian and Barnes had been occupying.

"Ow!" the guy called out. "Sugarpie!"

"You know what _Dean_?" Beth said. "I'm still pissed at you for leaving me behind and going to Hell. So no, no we won't be getting our own room, _honey."_ She emphasized this by smacking him upside the head before releasing him and stepping back beside me. I sighed, and tucked the gun back into my jeans while the drunken fool stumbled to his feet.

"Jesus, all right! Bitch. I'm gonna go find myself a Lisa…" he muttered before walking off. I stuck out my boot and felt leather connect with jean, then _timber_ down went the moron on to the couch nearby.

"Dean!" Sam chastised.

"What?" I asked innocently. "He tripped."

Sam rolled his eyes and I glared at my brother. "That guy is lucky to be alive right now," I said under my breath. Sam shook his head and looked back at the Dean and Sam impersonators still standing next to us.

"Look, guys, don't worry about that guy, let's talk about the map," Sam said, cutting in. "We all wanna find the bones right? We just thought...it would go faster if we all worked together."

Sam was the king of reasoning. Beth and I never had mastered that puppy dog look. It seemed to me that the chuckleheads were going for it as they exchanged looks, having their own unspoken conversation.

"Ahem. We..ah...we get the sizzler gift card," Barnes said.

"Fine," I said.

"And we get to be Sam and Dean," Demian pushed. I instantly had my back up at that, but when Sam turned his puppy dog look on me, I knew I had to just get this over with so we could deal with the ghost and move on.

"Fine," I grumbled.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

It was dark, but at least it was a balmy evening and not cold. The pathway outside the conference centre was lit up by exterior lighting, which made for a pleasant change from the usual. Demian and Barnes followed a pathway through the car park, glancing back at us.

"Hey, Rufus, Bobby, Beth would you hurry it up?" Demian asked, not waiting for an answer and plowing ahead into the garden.

"Are you all right?" I asked, glancing sideways at Dean who had a permanent scowl across his face.

"I'm trying to be," he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he stared holes into Demian and Barnes' backs. "Can you believe that dude back there? Like… seriously?" I sniggered and slipped my arm into Dean's, leaning against him as we walked, enjoying the feel of him pushing back against me.

"Like he even had a chance," I smiled, pressing my lips to his cheek.

"So where were we?" Barnes asked Demian suddenly and the latter looked thoughtfully into the night sky before nodding.

"Ah, Wendigo. The camp site."

I shuddered. Not one of my favourite hunts. Any hunt that led to Dean and I being separated was never a good one.

"Right, got it," Barnes said with a nod. "Ahem…. ' _Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean why are we still even here?'"_ His voice changed when he was playing Sam, and I couldn't help but smile. Dean and Sam were gaping at the pair, but I had to admit, I kind of liked their dedication to their art.

"' _This is why,'"_ Demian said in his deep _Dean_ voice, holding up a tatty book in the air. "' _This book. This is Dad's single most prized possession - everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us.'"_

Sam and Dean were back to frowning, I was starting to get angry again at how much detail Chuck had put into the books. There were moments, I knew from when we found the books originally, that detailed a great deal of intimacy between Dean and I, it still infuriated me. Nothing was sacred.

Demian and Barnes turned to look at me expectantly, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"What?"

"She's not very good at this…" Demian said to Barnes.

"Just do her lines too - they pretty much think the same anyway," Barnes said. "See that's the difference between you two and me. I got a mind of my own."

Demian scowled at the taller man. "You really shouldn't talk about Beth like that," he cautioned.

"Why not? Dean and her are like siamese twins, they think the same, they act the same, they both follow John's orders like they're gospel…"

I stared between the both of them, and they seemed to reach some sort of agreement because after a moment of silence they nodded and then turned back to the book.

"Wow, really?" I asked.

"' _So what are ya going to do Sam? Are you going to kill us?'_ " Demian asked, back in character.

"' _Man I am so sick of you telling me what to do!'"_ Barnes replied.

"All right, you know what?" Dean snapped beside me, pulling away. "That's it. That. Is. It."

Everyone stopped walking. "What's wrong Bobby?" Barnes asked.

Dean spluttered, momentarily lost for words, until, "I'm not Bobby, okay? You're not Sam. You're not Dean. What is wrong with you? Why in the hell would you choose to be these guys?" The boys looked a bit startled by the question, as if no one had ever asked it of them before.

Barnes frowned, and said in a normal voice, "because we're fans. Like you."

"No. I am not a fan, okay? Not fans. In fact, I think that the Dean, Beth and Sam story sucks. It is not fun. It is not entertaining. It is a river of crap that would send most people howling to the nut house. So you listen to me. Their pain is not for your amusement. I mean do you think they enjoy being treated like... like circus freaks?"

Demian's look of amusement was clear. "Uh...I don't think they care, because they're fictional characters!"

"Oh they care. Believe me. They care a lot!" Dean snapped before storming down the path and leaving us all behind. I met Sam's stunned look with one of my own.

"He..uh...he takes the story really seriously," Sam said, turning to look apologetically at Demian and Barnes. I sighed, starting to lose sight of Dean, and jogging after him.

"See?" Barnes said before I was out of hearing range. "I told you. Joined at the hip."

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

It was clear as day that Tweedledum and Tweedledee were not familiar with trampling around cemeteries in the middle of the night. While Sam, Beth and I were moving methodically from row to row, shining our flashlights on the graves, they were looking at the ground. Like they were going to find anything there.

"Dean," Beth called out, and I crossed the couple yards to where she was standing.

"Yeah, that's them," I agreed, looking at the names where she was shining her light. "We found the boys," I called out for Sam's benefit more than anyone else's.

"And here's Letitia Gore," Sam replied from a row away. I looked up, and saw Demian and Barnes tip toeing around the edge of the graveyard, looking into bushes.

"Ah… what are you guys doing?" I asked.

"' _We're looking for bones genius. They gotta be around here somewhere.'"_ Demian replied in his _Dean voice._

Beth giggled almost hysterically at that, and I turned to look at her for a moment as she choked back another laugh and snorted.

"Okay…" I said, turning back to the boys. "Generally, bones are in the ground."

Sam dumped his bag on the ground and leaned down to unzip it as Demian and Barnes exchanged a worried look.

"' _Yeah, I know that. I just….'"_ Demian paused as he watched Sam pull a shovel out of his bag. "Wait, hold on. Are you guys serious?"

"Deadly," I replied as Sam handed me the spade.

"We're not really digging up graves you guys," Barnes said, looking a little pale, "we're just playing a game…so…."

"Trust us," I said, with my best smile. "You wanna win the game, right?"

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

I hated grave digging. Out of my whole time with the Winchesters and hunting, it was still the number one thing on my hate list. Dean had taken over the digging for a while, we were nearing the depth where you'd normally start hitting something wooden, and just like that, _thud._ Metal hit wood. I stepped to the edge of the hole we'd been digging, and shone my light down at Dean while he knelt down, and pried the lid off by hand.

The wind kicked up immediately. I glanced around, alert for any supernatural beings. Sam shared the same warning look with me while Demian and Barnes continued being oblivious. Dean grunted and there was the sickening sound of wood cracking open as he lifted the lid, revealing the earthly remains of Letitia Gore in all their deteriorated glory. Beside me Demian gagged at the sight.

"That's not a plastic skeleton," he pointed out. "That's a... that's a skeleton skeleton."

"You just dug up a real grave," Barnes said.

"Yeah," Dean agreed. The boys exchanged a couple of anxious looks before looking over at Sam.

"You guys are nuts," Demian accused.

"I thought you guys wanted to be hunters," Sam said with an amused tone.

"Hunters aren't real man," Demian said, flinging his arm around. "This isn't real."

The two of them turned to walk away. "My God," Barnes said as they moved. "You guys have seriously lost your grip on this…." He glanced back at us, and froze, his face draining to white.

"What?" Sam asked.

I looked up from the other side of the grave to where Sam was standing. I wasn't close enough.

"Naughty, naughty, naughty!" Said the spirit of a seriously pissed off looking spirit in an old fashioned nightgown and long, messy hair. She backhanded Sam and he was sent flying across several graves. Demian and Barnes screamed and turned to run.

"Beth!" Dean called out, pointing to the bag Sam had been carrying. I scrambled toward it, fighting my first instinct to go after Sam. The spirit had turned on Demian and Barnes as they scrambled through the underbrush, desperately trying to get away.

"Oh my God!" Demian called out as I rummaged through the bag, seeing Dean pull himself out of the grave.

"Naughty, naughty, naughty!" Gore whispered again, pushing her hands into the boys' chests as I tossed a can of salt to Dean and he turned to shake it over the corpse. I grabbed a bottle of kerosene and joined him, pouring it over the salt as Dean reached into his pocket for his lighter, flicking it open and dropping it into the grave. I spun, seeing the spirit instantly disappear from in front of Demian and Barnes, who were left gasping for breath. A few yards away, Sam lifted himself to his feet and shook the dirt from his jacket.

"Real enough for you?" Dean asked, receiving a horrified look from the two freshly christened hunters.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I'd finally made my point.

By the time we got back to the hotel, and poured a few dozen shots of whiskey into Tweedledee and Tweedledum, I was feeling pretty damn pleased with myself. Demian was on his third shot as Barnes sat beside him, staring into an empty glass.

"That was….really…"

"Awful," I supplied. "Right?" The boys turned to look at me and Sam behind them, their look saying everything. "Exactly. Round's on us guys." I slapped a fifty dollar bill on the bar and patted Barnes on the shoulder.

"See you around," Sam said and we both turned to go find Beth.

"Hey. How'd you know how to do all that?" Demian asked.

We paused, looking back. "We… uh… we read the books," Sam said after a moment. I nodded in agreement then turned to where Chuck was standing with the convention manager.

"Hey Chuck," I called out. "Good luck with the Supernatural books, and screw you very much."

Where the hell was Beth? Sam was already leading the way out of the lounge into the lobby. I spotted Beth talking to Becky, but she gratefully pulled away with a fake smile when she saw us.

"Time to go?" I asked, seeing her nod vehemently. "Yeah. I agree."

Sam pushed on the doors out, and nothing.

"What?" I asked, reaching out and pushing against the exit myself. They didn't budge.

"That's weird," I said.

"Definitely," Sam agreed.

"Try the window," I suggested, and Beth moved to comply. She checked the lock, and then strained to push it up, giving up after a moment with a grunt and shake of her head.

Sam had crossed the room and was attempting to exit from another door.

I sighed, calling out to Sam. "Hey! Anything?" He shook his head back at us from across the room.

"Every exit's locked. Almost like…" I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, one that I knew from experience was telling me that the party was long from over… and…

"We missed something," Beth said, finishing my thought.

"Something's keeping us in?" I asked, getting a nod in reply. I knocked my fist against the window for good measure. _Damn it!_

"Yeah. This is bad," Sam said, overhearing the last of the conversation.

"Gee, ya think Sammy?" I asked. My mind was racing. How were we going to get the doors open? It reminded me a little like the Morton House that Beth and I had worked on our honeymoon. I wasn't keen on having a repeat.

As if on cue, a woman screamed and we started running. Seeing the ghost girl from earlier running toward us, I reached out and grabbed her arm, startling her into speech.

"Don't go in there!" She said breathlessly, waving her hand toward the library.

"Get out there," I said, pushing her behind us toward the lobby. "Go, go!"

Beth was already opening the door and stepping into the room. As I crossed the threshold there was a definite change in temperature, and I could see my breath fog. Crouched in the corner of the room, was Gore's son, still holding his head. He looked up when we walked in.

"Why'd you do that? Why did you send my mommy away?" He asked.

"Ah, maybe because of the high and tight she gave you, huh? How bout some thanks," I said.

"Ahem," Sam said, clearing his throat pointedly.

"Well, I'm just saying a little gratitude might be nice once in awhile," I muttered.

"My mommy didn't do this to me," the boy said, which really caught all our attention.

"What?" Beth asked, taking a few steps toward him and crouching down. "Then who did?"

The boy disappeared and Beth stood up, shooting me a look that silently stated she was not happy about the turn of events.

Things were not going to plan. Not like they ever did. The latest realisation had us reeling for answers. I led the way out of the door when we started hearing more screams upstairs. Taking the steps two at a time, I could feel Beth right behind me as we turned a landing and found the German _Hook Man_ from Q&A time lying on the floor. I leaned down, searching for a pulse and finding nothing.

"Dead," I said.

"And scalped," Beth pointed out. "Just like Gore's son."

"Not good," Sam muttered and he started to run down the stairs toward the large auditorium. Sam was a good ten yards ahead of us as Beth and I found our way into the room, Chuck was up on stage.

"Well guys I guess we're out of time. So thank you for your incredibly probing and rigorous questions, and have a good…" He stopped as Sam ran up on the stage and whispered urgently in Chuck's ear about what was going on.

"Hey...What? Holy crap." Chuck exclaimed. The audience murmured in concern as Sam covered the mic and continued talking to Chuck. After a moment of back and forth, Chuck looked out at the crowd and smiled nervously while Sam stalked off stage.

"Okay. So ahh, good news. I got much more to tell you... I guess."

Ten minutes later I was ushering in the hotel staff to the auditorium while Beth searched the kitchen for salt.

"Buddy, I got work to do," the manager complained as I pushed him inside.

"You're gonna want to see this," I assured him. "It's gonna be a hell of a show." I closed the door after the last staff member, and Beth started to lay salt at it.

"Ah, what does the future hold for Sam and Dean? Well, how do you feel about angels? Yeah, because let me tell you, they're not nearly as lame as you think," Chuck started on stage.

"Okay," I said, looking from Sam to Beth. "New theory. The legends about Leticia are ass-backwards obviously."

"Yeah, I think that's a pretty good theory," Beth agreed, glancing around the room.

"Yeah. So all right, let's say those three orphans were playing cowboys and Indians," Sam began.

" _LARPing_ as cowboys and indians," I cut in with a grin, pretty pleased with my comment.

"Whatever," Sam snapped. "And let's say they scalped Leticia's son and killed him."

"Mom catches 'em in the act, flips out, slices them and dices herself," I finished.

"Well, it's that is true, it means we have got our work cut out for us," Beth said. I wished I had my shotgun with rock salt on me.

"If it's true it means we've got three bloodthirsty brats in the building," Sam agreed.

"Yeah and Leticia was the only one keeping them under control," I added.

"Smooth move on our part," Sam said with a shake of his head.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Beth pointed out. "You remember Alabama?" She asked me with a grin. I thought back to one of our earlier hunting jobs, and chuckled.

"Ohhh, yeah… that was bad," I said. Then the reality of our situation crashed in. We had people, a lot of people, to protect. "We gotta get back to the cemetery, torch the kids' bones."

"How?" Sam asked. "We're trapped, we don't even have our guns! The ghosts are running this joint and they're only scared of one thing."

I was staring at the ghost girl who'd half hit on me earlier, and thinking…

"Exactly," I said, starting to walk. I had an idea.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

The girl wasn't really having a bar of what Dean was trying to sell her, and I had to admit, I couldn't really blame her.

"You want me to do what?" She asked Dean skeptically.

"You're an actress. We just want you to act," he said with a charming smile.

"I work at Hooters, in Toledo. No, you can forget it," she said, shaking her head.

"You'll be safe, we promise. This is really important," Sam cut in.

"I said no! Get someone else," the girl insisted. I sighed. Somehow I knew I was going to regret this.

"Fine. How about you give me your costume then?" I asked, stepping in. The girl looked at me as if I was crazy and then growled under her breath, starting to strip off the top garments she was wearing. First the long sleeved shirt, and then the a-line flared skirt,, until she was standing in leggings and tank top.

"You know what?" She asked, tossing them unceremoniously at me. "Be my guest. You people, all of you," she added, gesturing around the room, "are just….crazy!" She stormed off to where her manager was standing and started conversing angrily with him.

Dean was watching me warily. "You sure about this?" He asked as I shrugged out of my jacket, ditched the red shirt and quickly pulled on the shirt, buttoning it up to the neck.

"Better me than her," I pointed out, to which he nodded.

"Yeah…" His voice didn't sound as convinced.

I was zipping up the skirt at the back, and slipping my jeans off, when Barnes and Demian walked up to us, the latter dropping his hand down on Dean's shoulder.

"We wanna help," he announced.

"Guys, no," Dean said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Demian asked.

"Cause this isn't make-believe," was the reply.

"Yeah, you saw what happened out there already," I said to them.

"Look, we know," Demian said. "We're not nuts. We're freakin' terrified." For terrified, they looked pretty in control of themselves. I had to hand it to these two guys, they were getting up to speed on hunting pretty fast.

"Yeah but if all these people are seriously in trouble, we gotta do something," Barnes agreed.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because. That's what Sam and Dean would do," Demian said.

"No, there's really no such thing as a Croatoan virus for down there. You really should see a doctor," Chuck's voice echoed across to us and I shuddered.

"Let's just do this," I said to Dean, emptying my things from my jeans into the pockets of the skirt I was now wearing. "I feel like a freaking school marm." Dean looked me up and down and grinned, nodding in full agreement.

It didn't take us long to abandon the auditorium and get to the library. Sam, we'd sent with Demian and Barnes on the cemetery mission. Now Dean and I just had to distract the ghosts enough to get them out the doors.

Dean pulled me up outside the doors and looked me over, reaching out his hands to run his fingers through my hair and mess it up a little. "You think this'll work?" He asked, suddenly doubtful.

"Yeah, yeah of course," I nodded.

"Okay," Dean said, leaning around the corner to into the room. "I'm gonna be right here sugarpie, I've got your back."

"I know," I smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek. He turned his face and pressed his lips to mine, eyes worriedly looking into mine. For a couple of heartbeats we were caught in time, another place altogether. He reached up, burying his left hand into the hair at the base of my neck and kissed me again, this time taking his time before drawing away breathlessly.

"Be careful," he murmured.

"Yeah," I breathed, forcing out a smile. "You too."

My heart was beating out of my chest, much harder than it should for a simple ghost hunt. It was the lack of tools we had that had me worried. Dean had found an iron poker from the fireplace downstairs, but that was it - no guns, no rock salt - we would have to get up close and personal with these psycho kids.

I stepped further into the room, rounding the divider wall near the door where Dean was hiding. Nothing so far. The room was a typical old-fashioned library. Bookshelves floor to ceiling on almost every wall except the one I was facing. It had a huge fireplace and leadlight windows over the top that revealed nothing but darkness.

"Boys?" I called out. "Boys? Come here this instant!" I paused, waiting to see if they were listening, and questioned what Gore would do in my place. I frowned at the lack of response, and then hardened my voice. "Boys! You come when I call you. You understand me?"

Out of nowhere the three boys appeared in front of the enclosed bookshelves.

"Miss Gore?" One of them asked.

I swallowed hard, nodding at them and praying silently that they wouldn't see through the act. "You boys have been very naughty," I said, putting on my best stern mom voice. "Now you open the doors. Open the doors right now!"

The boys flickered in front of me, moving back a step, they looked worried.

"Very naughty," I reiterated. "You hear me? Naughty, naughty, naughty!" I repeated what Gore had said to Sam at the cemetery, and this seemed to have an effect on the boys for a moment.

 _Pour some sugar on me!_

I froze.

 _Oooh, in the name of love… pour some sugar on me._

My pocket was vibrating… with a ringtone I wasn't familiar with. The boys frowned, looking at each other. _Shit shit shit!_ I reached into my pocket and switched off the phone, glancing back at Dean who was looking around the corner at me apologetically.

"Def Leppard?" I mouthed at him. "Really?"

He inclined his head toward the boys, who had gathered together, and then stepped out from behind the wall brandishing his fire poker.

"I like Def Leppard," he grinned, the humour falling from his eyes as he looked at the ghosts and stepped between them and I. They'd raised knives in their little hands, and a bloodthirsty look was now paired with psychopathic smiles. _Shit._

They hit Dean head on, and I watched him fly across the room and slam against a wall, the iron bar sliding out of his hand across the floor. The boys all swooped in on him, their knives extended while I raced around the armchair, and picked up the discarded poker, swinging it through the trio. Dean dropped his hands down from protecting his face and sighed with relief.

"Thanks," he said, and I extended my hand, helping him up.

It was my turn now. Before I knew what was happening, the familiar feeling of being in limbo as I was propelled through the air, hit me.

"Beth!" Dean yelled, racing after me and picking up the bar that I had this time dropped.

Sam had to be on his way to the cemetery with the boys now, we just had to stall for more time and protect everyone down in the auditorium. My ribs burned and I coughed as I struggled to my feet. Dean was on his back on the ground, a boy on top of him. I felt a sharp yank on my hair, and the tall blonde boy had grabbed my hair, angling his butcher knife toward my hairline.

"No!" I called out. "Dean!"

But it was no good, the spirits were strong, and they had us both pinned down. Second by second, those knives were getting closer to their mark. I glanced furiously around, spotting a set of fireplace tools on the hearth, but they were too far away.

Dean grunted, struggling against his kid, and then there was a flash of flames, and right in front of me I watched the ghosts burn up.

They'd done it.

I slumped back against the wall, breathing hard. "They did it... " I said, catching my breath. Dean groaned, and rolled on to his side, standing up. He walked toward me, picking up the iron bar, and looked thoughtfully at it.

"You know maybe that guy was right. Maybe we should put these things on a bungee," he said with a grin.

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I'd left it to Chuck to try and explain to the police how it was that we had a dead body on site. I wasn't sure what he was going to go with, I hoped it wasn't "psycho kid ghosts" though. Walking down the steps I found Demian and Barnes standing around, looking lost.

"You know I gotta hand it to you guys. You really saved our asses back there. So ah, you know, thanks," I said, smiling at them both. They stood looking at me and then nodded.

"Yeah, no problem man, we're happy to help. You know, we don't even know your name," Barnes said. I stopped and contemplated.

"Dean," I said finally. "The real Dean."

They believed me for a moment, and that seemed to hit them, then the reality of what that would mean, maybe it was too much for them. They laughed, shaking their heads.

"Ahhh, yeah right. Me too!" Demian said.

"Get the hell out of here Dean!" Barnes added.

I felt disappointed. If only they knew the truth. But they'd had a taste of it, and they'd saved me and Beth, so that counted for something.

"Well, anyway. Thanks. Really." I said, turning around to go look for Beth.

"You're wrong you know," Demian said. It caused me to turn back.

"Sorry?"

"About Supernatural. No offense but I'm not sure you get what the stories about."

"Is that so?" I smirked.

Demian hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, taking a step toward me. "All right. In real life, he sells stereo equipment," he gestured to Barnes as he spoke. "I fix copiers. _Our_ lives suck. But to be Sam and Dean, to wake up every morning and save the world? To have a family that would die for you? Well who wouldn't want that?"

The way they said it, I couldn't argue. I did have it lucky in that regard. I had Beth, who was always beside me no matter what, who'd prayed and come into Hell to find me and pull me out. I had Sam, who, regardless of how annoying he could be sometimes, was still my brother. We had family and friends who helped when we needed it. In that way, we did have it good.

"Maybe you got a point," I conceded. "You know, you two don't make a bad team yourselves. How do you know each other anyway?"

Barnes and Demian smiled at each other. "Oh. Well, we met online. Supernatural chat room." Barnes said.

"Oh," I said. "Well it must be nice to get out of your parent's basement. Make some friends."

"We're more than friends," Demian said, piquing my curiosity. The two of them reached out and joined hands. "We're partners." Barnes dropped his head down onto Demian's shoulder and they grinned at me.

"Oh," I said, the penny dropping. "I guess that's why you didn't hit on Beth, like every other Dean in this place?" I asked. Demian chuckled and nodded.

"Huh, ahem," I cleared my throat. "Well, howdy partners."

"Howdy," Barnes replied as I started to walk away. I definitely had to find Beth and tell her this!

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Sam was standing with Becky and Chuck to the side of the Impala, and I was half listening to the ridiculous conversation going on between them, and the phone to my ear.

"Look Sam. I'm not gunna lie. We had undeniable chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun it was too hot to live. It can't go on. Chuck and I, we found each other. My yin to his proud yang. And well, the heart wants what the heart wants. I'm so so sorry."

"Yeah Sam," Chuck said, his expression saying anything but an apology. "Sorry."

I chuckled at the sudden change of heart from Becky. Chuck must have really made an impression on her while Dean and I had been up in the library fighting ghosts. She'd prattled on about how he'd fought a ghost off when the manager tried to leave the salt protected auditorium, and he'd been _so brave._

"Will you be all right?" Becky asked, looking up at Sam.

"Honestly I don't know. I'll just have to find a way to keep living, I guess," Sam said.

" _Princess? Are you listening to me?"_ Jefferson's voice broke my concentration and I focused back on my phone.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm here. You know you nearly got me killed last night calling so late?" I pointed out.

" _Yes, so you said. Well, that's what happens when you leave your phone on. Put it on silent when you're hunting, like the rest of us."_

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay…. So what do you have for me?"

" _Well, my dear, there isn't exactly any evidence out there to prove that Gabriel ever got one of his prophecies_ wrong." He said, getting to the point.

"Ok. Oh, hey. Chuck. If you really wanna publish more books, I guess that's ok with us." Sam was saying on the other side of the car. I tried to concentrate on what Jefferson was saying, but Chuck's expression caught me off guard..

"Wow," Chuck said excitedly. "Really?"

"No not really. We have guns and we will find you," Sam started to walk off, back toward the hotel for some reason, and then Becky was following.

"So, angel prophecies, pretty much written in stone?" I asked into the phone.

" _Pretty much."_

Great," I muttered.

" _What's this about?"_

"Nothing," I said. "I uh, I gotta go. I'll call you in a couple of days." I didn't wait for confirmation, just hung up the phone and sighed, looking down at my hands.

"Penny for your thoughts," Dean's voice startled me and I looked up, noting that he'd probably been standing there longer than I was aware.

"Huh?"

"You were a million miles away just then, who were you talking to?" Dean asked.

"Uh, Jefferson. Just checking something with him."

"Anything I need to know?" He questioned, looking at me with concern.

"No," I said, instantly regretting it. "Actually, maybe." I felt the emotions of holding on to this too much. They battered at my walls, pushing to get out like water at a levy. "I just… I don't know where to start…"

"Hey, hey," Dean said, moving quickly to pull me against him. "Start at the beginning."

"Everything is going to hell," I sighed, burying my face into his shoulder.

"Tell me about it," he agreed. "You know I just saw Becky chasing Sam across the car park?"

I chuckled, pulling back to look at him. His eyes were full of affection, and he reached a hand up to brush his thumb across my cheek.

"You know you can tell me anything right?"

"I know," I nodded. "And we do…. We do need to talk."

"Okay then, let's go, Sioux Falls… there's a bar with our name on it."

"Guys, guys!" Sam called out, interrupting the moment as he rounded the Impala, smiling excitedly. "You're not going to believe it, but I got a lead on the Colt."

"What?" Dean asked, pulling away to look at Sam.

"How?" I added.

"Long story," Sam said, glancing over at Becky who was now walking up the steps to the hotel with Chuck, hand in hand. "I'll tell you on the way?"

"What are we waiting for?" Dean asked. And just like that we were back on the hunt.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is: Ash Tree Lane by Ms Mr

* * *

Sorry it's taken so long to update! Hopefully it won't be as long next time. I'm also working on some updates for Star Trek and Dredd.

I've finished with the study that was taking up the majority of my time, and settled into a new job, so now I have time to write!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has taken the time to write a review or PM and to encourage me to keep going with the story. I haven't abandoned it by a long shot. Just as an aside, if you PM or log in to leave reviews, I can get back to you with an idea on when an update is coming - leaving Guest reviews only means I can't reply to questions you're asking me!

In fact, there's a fun compliment coming to the story, which will come out with the next update, which is going to be a revised Hell House flashback adding in some more Dean / Beth pre-relationship angst (because I'm always trying to get that out there) and introducing a new character that will parallel this story through the new story of a talented co-writer. Her story will follow Sam, giving us a deeper look into his perspective on his journey with Dean and Beth. So look out for that soon!


	11. Abandon All Hope

_I don't know where I'm at.  
I'm standing out the back,  
And I'm tired of waiting._

 _W_ _aiting here in line,  
Hoping that I'll find  
What I've been chasing_

 _I shot for the sky  
I'm stuck on the ground  
So why do I try?  
I know I'm gonna fall down.  
I thought I could fly,  
So why did I drown?  
You never know why  
It's coming down, down, down._

* * *

 **ABANDON ALL HOPE**

* * *

Dean's expression was one of combined eagerness and frustration: he rolled his eyes in my direction, phone plastered to his ear, while he paced next to the Impala. We'd called in Cas after Sam got a lead on the colt. Becky had said that the demon Crowley had it - it had been in one of Chuck's books, and that led us to the situation we were in now - stalking the elusive demon, angel in pursuit. Cas was watching Crowley and another crossroads victim sealing a soul deal right this moment.

"The deal is going down?" Dean asked. "Right. Okay, Huggy Bear, just don't lose him."

The next few moments were going to be excruciating. I stared into the murky waters of the lake we'd parked next to, somehow the weather seemed to me mirroring my mood - it might have been sunny and bright on the surface, but below… deep down was an uncertainty sitting in my gut.

Sam was on his phone when Dean hung up with Cas, and he seemed to use that as a good moment to pick up our last conversation. He glanced down from the road at me, and grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the back seat, moving toward me with purpose.

I accepted the bottle he offered, and sat on a fallen tree trunk nearby.

"Okay, spill, what's going on?" Dean asked, his gentle yet stern _worried_ look penetrated me to the core. I paused, letting it pass through me and reminded myself that he didn't know what was going on, _at all_ , and that had to be worse than knowing. It had to be driving him crazy. I grimaced, feeling slightly guilty that I still hadn't told him, but then quickly reminded myself that we hadn't been alone since the convention.

"Again, not the best time to go into it Dean," I replied, opening the cap and taking a sip of water. It was warm, but still welcome given I was thirsty.

"There never is a good time, but we don't have Sam hovering like he does… so?" His expression shifted from curious to almost pleading. I felt my teeth come into contact with my lower lip, gnawing slightly as I toyed with the words I so wanted to say.

"It's… Gabriel, he shared one of his illustrious _prophecies_ to me," I spat out after a moment. Dean's eyebrow raised slightly as he inclined his head to indicate I continue. "About us," I added.

"Good or bad?"

"Depends how you look at it," replied cryptically. "But he's pretty convinced that you're _not_ going to be able to get out of being Michael's puppet." That wasn't really the part I wanted to tell him, but I also wasn't real sure how to broach the topic that Gabriel was waiting on Dean to impregnate me, with some saviour child, and then go off to be killed in the final showdown of asshole archangels.

"So, that's bad then," Dean said with a nod.

His pocket started to vibrate and play _Eye of the Tiger._ With a sigh, he pulled it out of his jacket and flipped the phone open, holding a finger up in the air as if to say ' _we're not done'_ before he spoke. "Yeah?"

It had to be Cas, his expression took on that urgent look again. After a few moments, he nodded to himself. "That's okay, you did great. We'll take it from here." Hanging up, Dean threw an apologetic smile in my direction.

"Cas knows where Crowley is, but it's warded in Enochian and he can't get in."

"Angel proofing…" I mused. "He's prepared. He doesn't want Heaven looking in on him."

Our Gabriel conversation could wait. It all could. What we needed now was a miracle, and this was the closest we'd come in the journey. "Let's go," I said, as Dean hesitated for a split second, the look on my face must have been resolute enough that he didn't argue and instead nodded briefly at me.

"This isn't over,' he commented, before kissing my cheek and starting back to the car.

"We got the place," Dean announced to Sam as he climbed back up the embankment.

"One stop first, we gotta pick up someone," Sam replied, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

"Oh you are not going to start picking up strays are you?" Dean complained. I looked curiously at Sam as I reached them.

Sam sighed, and then shook his head. "She's insisting on coming along…" he replied. Only one person could get him that wound up lately… the on-again, off-again, must be on-again Jo Harvelle.

"Oh boy," Dean groaned, making the same connection I had. "Well ain't this gonna be just peachy?"

"Hey, shut up Dean!" Sam snapped. "Like I don't have to put up with the pair of you 24/7!"

"Hey, well nobody asked you to!"

"Yes!" Sam said loudly. "Yes, you did!"

"That was Beth," Dean interjected. It had been a rough couple of months, I knew this. But I was not in the mood for either of their bickering.

"Hey! Shut up the both of you!" I yelled, which brought them both to a complete silence. "We stick together, end of story, and I'm tired of arguing about it. We have seen the future…" My voice trailed off, thinking about it and I saw Dean's head dip down slightly as he considered _our child_ and the fact that I wasn't alive to raise her in _that future._

"We have seen what's coming if we screw this up," I said a little softer. "So enough. Let's get Jo, and do this. She's a good hunter, she might be able to help."

* * *

 _ **Mansion**_

At what point had it come down to wearing a little black dress and high heels to hunt? I exchanged a shrug with Jo as she pulled the short skirt down around her ass and flashed us a grin.

"What?" The young blonde asked, her smiled turning to a frown.

"Nothing," Dean said, rolling his eyes and attempting to look anywhere but at the long legs running down to the black shoes. "Can't believe you had that in your hunting bag."

"Hey!" Jo countered, eyes flashing. "A LBD is an essential part of any woman's wardrobe."

"Beth doesn't have one," Dean retorted.

"Which is why I'm running point, bozo. This would be much easier if there were two of us about to go prostitute ourselves," Jo replied.

"Sorry," I shrugged, absently fingering the silver anti-possession medallion hanging from my rosary. Yes I had it tattooed on my neck, but it was still a comfort knowing it was there. Guns were no good in this affront, the only weapon that really was flashed in Sam's hand as he shifted Ruby's knife from his left to right.

"Sure, whatever, let's do this," Jo said, turning to walk briskly down the path toward the mansion that Cas said Crowley was hiding out in. There would be demons everywhere patrolling, and an alarm attached to the walls. Our best approach, we'd decided, was going through the front gate. And that lay squarely on Jo's shoulders right now.

As she moved closer to the gate which blocked our only way into the estate, I hurried along the base of the eight foot wall, Sam and Dean leading the way. As Jo reached the gate, we pulled back into the shadows and listened, waiting.

Jo reached out and pushed the intercom, and then paused for a response.

"Hello?" A man's voice sounded.

"Hello," Jo replied, looking up into a camera. "My car broke down. I—I need some help." She smiled at the lens and there was a pause while the man on the other side contemplated her appearance.

"I'll be down in a minute," he said finally. It seemed like a lifetime for the gate to swing open, but in reality was only a couple of seconds. Jo smiled past the perimeter of the gate, but the hand at the side of her hip curled out two fingers, and I felt Sam and Dean shift to readiness, waiting for their cue.

There were two men inside the gate. One of them spoke.

"Evening, pretty lady. Get yourself on in here," he invited.

Jo appeared to hesitate, an act to be sure, but took a step toward them. "I just need to make a call."

"You don't need to call anyone, baby," This was the voice from the intercom, and the undertone of his voice made my skin crawl. "We're the only help you're ever gonna need."

Sam instinctively moved, but Dean grabbed his arm, shaking his head once. We had to stay the course, and trust Jo knew what she was doing. So far she was playing the game to a tee.

"You know what?" She said, turning. "I think I should wait by my car."

One man moved into view and I felt Sam tense even more when the demon grabbed Jo's shoulder, stopping her from moving.

"We said, get your ass in here," he said. Jo acted, spinning and smacking his hand free before punching him in the face, flattening him. Sam was one fluid motion before the second man could even reach Jo, stabbing him in the neck with the knife, and watching as a ripple of light flashed through the body, before pulling it out and then stabbing the first man, still on the ground.

"Nice work, Jo," Dean said, clapping her on the back with a smile.

"Thanks," she said.

I pulled out a pair of pliers from the bag I had over my shoulder, and handed them to Jo.

"Shall we?" I asked. Sam nodded, handing me the knife, and then moving to stand with Jo. Things were about to get entertaining.

* * *

 _ **Inside the Mansion**_

Dean and I had left Sam and Jo to cut the power. It was up to us to get inside and prepare for Crowley. Fortunately for us, there wasn't all that many demons in the mansion when we entered, which gave me plenty of time to pull back one of the Persian rugs on the floor in the foyer. I drew a devil's trap with spray paint on the bottom of it.

Keeping watch, Dean nodded when I was done, and helped me pull the rug back into position. He flashed me a cheeky grin as we moved into position. "Now this is more like the old days. Hunting. Taking the fight to them…" he whispered, sounding a little more excited than I'd heard him in months. "None of this running crap, right?"

The power went out at that moment, the room falling into darkness. I peered back at Dean, the light of the full moon outside the only illumination for the room.

I smiled, and nodded, peering out the door and seeing a shadow fall on the floor, just around the corner. "Yeah, much better, we're in control," I replied, inclining my head and hearing footsteps. "Someone's coming."

Dean readied his shotgun filled with rock salt and we crossed over the rug, waiting inside the room.

Crowley had take residence in a middle-aged short man, but for all intents and purposes was clean cut and enjoying the look. Decked head to toe in a stylish black suit, with black shirt and black tie, he was clean shaven and looked as if he'd been expecting us.

"Crowley, I believe?" I asked, and he looked me up and down appreciatively before rolling his eyes.

"So," he said in a thick Irish accent, "Nancy Drew and the Hardy...boy finally found me." His eyes swept the room, looking for Sam, but he appeared unconcerned by his absence. "Took you long enough," he added.

I held my breath, suddenly feeling very exposed in the room, despite holding Ruby's knife. Crowley took a couple of steps into the room, almost onto the rug before stopping. It was crumpled from having been moved, I instantly knew that he'd discovered our plan, and he knew that I knew in the way he looked at me. He smirked, and leaned down to flip a corner over. When he saw the devil's trap he sighed, standing.

"Do you have any idea how much this rug cost?" He complained. I felt arms grab me, and beside me Dean struggled as another man secured him, taking the gun and pinning his arms to the side.

The knife was yanked out of my hand, and as much as I struggled, I couldn't move. They had us. I cursed silently that we hadn't been more concerned about the lack of guards in the mansion. Why wouldn't he have them? We had been led into a trap as sure as we thought we'd been moving Crowley into one.

The latter held the one object we'd come for, the Colt, up in his hand, still on the other side of the rug and tutted. "This is it, right?" He asked. "This is what it's all about."

My whole world stopped as he pointed the gun at Dean.

"No," I muttered, struggling harder.

The room slowed to a crawl as Crowley shot. I thought I saw the bullet fly through the air toward Dean, and then it missed, hitting the demon behind him. _Bang!_ Another shot, and the demon behind me fell to the floor dead with his comrade, leaving Dean and I both gaping. Dean reached for me and placed a hand at my back, checking me over. I breathed a sigh of relief, letting myself take in the feel of his hand pressed to me. We were alive.

"We need to talk," Crowley said. "Privately."

"Jesus Christ," Dean muttered as Crowley turned, waving the colt in the air in a gesture for us to follow. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking me over.

"Yeah," I nodded, my hands shaking a little as I turned and patted him down for bullet holes I knew I wouldn't find. "Dammit." He gave me a quick hug.

"Come on," he said, his voice growing steely. He let me go, and leaned down, picking up the shotgun and knife, handing me the blade. I felt the comfort of its hilt in my hand, sharing a look of confusion and concern with Dean before we followed him into the room adjoining where we were.

"What the hell is this?" Dean asked angrily as we stepped through the doors.

"Do you know how deep I could have buried this thing?" Crowley asked, waving a hand and causing the doors to slam shut behind us. "There's no reason you or anyone should know this even exists, except that I told you."

I looked skeptically at him. "You? You told us?"

Crowley shrugged. "Rumors, innuendo, sent out on the grapevine."

"Why tell us anything?" I asked.

The demon pointed the gun at Dean again, and I felt myself starting to get angry. This wasn't the way this thing was supposed to go down. The only thing that I was comforted by was the knowledge that Sam and Jo would start looking for us soon, when we didn't call.

"I want you to take this thing to Lucifer and empty it into his face," Crowley said to Dean.

"Uh-huh, okay, and why exactly would you want the devil dead?" He asked.

"It's called…." Crowley paused, and put the gun down on the table next to him. "Survival. Well, I forgot you Winchesters at best are functioning morons."

Dean bristled. "You're functioning...morons…" he tried to retort, but the look on Crowley's face showed how unimpressed he was with the attempted insult.

"Lucifer isn't a demon, remember?" He asked, looking a me before picking up a drink and swirling the scotch inside of it. "He's an angel! An angel famous for his hatred of humankind. To him, you're just filthy bags of pus. If that's the way he feels about you, what can he think about us?"

"But he created you," I pointed out. At least, that's what I'd always been led to believe. It wasn't as if it was clear in the bible, but there were things in my Dad's journals… impressions.

"He created us, he _loved_ Lilith and he killed her to get out of Hell. To him, we're just servants. Cannon fodder," Crowley said. "If Lucifer manages to exterminate humankind, we're next. So, help me, huh? Let's all go back to simpler, better times, back to when we could all follow our natures. I'm in sales, dammit! So what do you say if I give you this thing, and you go kill the devil?"

Crowley picked up the colt again, holding it handle first to Dean. This had to be a joke, right? A demon, handing us the one thing that we believed could rid us of the Devil. I glanced sideways at Dean, seeing him look at me. His eyes widened slightly in question, and I wrinkled my nose, thinking.

 _What if he's for real?_

I looked back at Crowley, and he wriggled the gun in the air, clearly growing impatient.

"Well Nancy? What'll it be? I'm giving you the solution to the whole damn book." And he was. I sighed, and stepped a little closer, taking the gun out of his hand and then quickly moving back beside Dean.

"Right," Dean said, nodding in my direction. "Great."

"Great," Crowley said with a smile.

"Great…" I echoed, glancing down at the gun in my hand. It felt heavier than I remembered, or was that just me?

"Great!" Crowley again.

We all stood there, not speaking, just looking at each other. Crowley had a smug smile on his face, like the cat who had just gotten the cream. There was just one problem.

"Just one little thing…" I pointed out, and Dean shook himself beside me, as if he'd been lost deep in thought. He turned his gaze to Crowley and cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah," he said. "You uh, you wouldn't happen to know _where_ the devil is, by chance, would you?"

My arm was twitching. I wanted this demon gone as much as I did Lucifer.

"Thursday, birdies tell me, there's an appointment in Carthage, Missouri," Crowley replied. I glanced at Dean, he wasn't moving, just taking it all in.

"Great," I said resolutely.

I moved quickly, just like John had trained us: before I could talk myself out of what I was doing, or second guess what had to happen. Instincts took over. Within a second I had stepped up to Crowley, lifted the gun and placed the barrel to his forehead. I let out a breath and squeezed the trigger.

 _Click._

Nothing.

 _Shit._

Nothing! The gun wasn't loaded! Crowley's eyes met mine, and he hadn't even moved. He hadn't even blinked.

"Oh yeah," he said finally, unfazed. "Right. You'll probably need some more ammunition."

I kept my expression still, hiding the surprise that I should not being feeling. _I should have known he wouldn't hand us a loaded gun. He's a demon!_

Crowley moved effortlessly toward a desk, opening a drawer.

Dean cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, excuse me for asking, but aren't you kind of signing your own death warrant? I mean, what happens to you if we go up against the devil and lose?"

Crowley stopped, turning back to Dean. "Number one, he's going to wipe us all out anyway. Two, after you leave here, I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere. And three…" His voice had progressively grown louder, until "... _how about you DON'T MISS, okay! Morons!_ "

The doors behind us opened, and Crowley looked up, again not surprised. I heard two sets of footsteps, one of them Sam's - the other had to be Jo. With a flick of his wrist, Crowley threw a box toward Dean, who caught it and opened it in one movement. I glanced over to confirm the contents. _Bullets._

When we looked back to where the demon had been standing, he was gone.

I sighed. "Dammit. This did not go as planned."

"But we got the Colt," Dean said.

"Yeah," I muttered, looking down at it. "We got the colt."

* * *

 _ **Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
Bobby's House**_

I'd found my way to the little memorial garden Sam had made for Dean and I, tucked away behind the makeshift gym in an old shed at the back of Bobby's salvage yard. It was about the only thing Bobby kept neat and tended, though since he'd been in a wheelchair, it had started to get overgrown. Sitting on the bench under the magnolia tree Sam had planted in memory of Dean's and my lost baby, it only drove home the sinking feeling that yet again we were in over our heads, and facing almost certain death.

It wasn't that long ago Dean and I had been _retiring_ and planning to settle down. _To have another baby._ Tomorrow we would be going after the Devil. _The Devil._ It seemed surreal, even after everything we had experienced.

I was expecting Dean to come looking for me, so it was a surprise to look up and see Jo. The girl, who couldn't be much younger than me, leaned against the side of the shed, a bottle of beer dangling from her fingers. She nodded silently when I turned to face her, lifting the bottle up and gesturing to the little angel statue under the tree.

"It's not too late," she said.

I scoffed, feeling my heart sink.

"I beg to differ."

"Mum, Sam, Cas, we can handle it. Maybe you and Dean should take off. Get as far away from all this as possible."

"Dean would never agree to that," I replied.

"You'd never leave Sam behind," she countered, taking a sip of her bottle. "Isn't that the reason we're all here?"

"It's not that simple, Jo."

"What if it is?" Jo asked. "What if you guys just let it go? John wasn't a saint, he got my Daddy killed Beth. He wasn't infallible. What if he was wrong?"

I noticed a shadow moving to my right, loitering just out of sight from the blonde. Standing, I sighed and raised my arms out to my sides.

"That's just the problem Jo. Us going back for Sam? Saving him from death? That wasn't John's wish. John told us to kill him if he fell under the influence of the demon blood. We disobeyed John. _That_ is why we're here, not because we were following orders like good soldiers."

Jo went still, taking this information in.

"I didn't know."

"And the reason this situation has happened?" I pressed on, wanting to drive my point home. "Is because we _let go._ We stopped, we walked away from hunting, and because we weren't there Sam killed Lilith and freed Lucifer from Hell. And now we're cleaning up that mess. Because we messed up, we left him, no one was there watching out for him. So, no, fixing this _is_ our responsibility."

"People die when you're around Beth."

Her words sliced through me like a knife.

"Your Dad. John. Sam. Hell, even Dean. What's the common link?"

I stared incredulously at her, but I had no reply. I believed her. It was as if I were speaking to myself.

"That's enough," Dean had been listening until this point, but I knew he wouldn't stand in the shadows while Jo tore shreds off me. "You don't come here, _of all places_ , and insult my wife."

"Dean…"

He cut her off with a wave of his hand through the air. "You want someone to take care of, go tell your mother than a drinking game with an angel is pointless."

It was as gentle a dismissal as she was going to get. I felt Dean's hand move across my lower back, coming to rest against my hip as he pulled me into his side and waited for Jo to leave. She opened her mouth, as if to speak further, but when she glanced at Dean's face she reconsidered and turned on her heel.

I let out a shaky breath as she disappeared into the darkness.

"She's wrong." Dean didn't waste time mincing his words.

"Is she?"

"You know what's in common with those deaths? _Demons_. Plain. Simple. Evil. You can't help that you got caught in the middle, Beth." His voice was so certain, unlike my own.

"And we're still surrounded by them. We're _working with one!_ Tomorrow… we face death, again..."

Dean turned me to face him, his hands sliding around my waist - firm, strong, warm - while his eyes sought mine.

"Nobody is dying on my watch, sugarpie. No one." Dean's voice had take on the stubborn tone of a child who refused to accept that they had no control over what was to come. "Tomorrow, we'll finish this. Then we'll decide what comes next."

I nodded, leaning my head against his shoulder and feeling the way he pulled me closer, our bodies pressed the length of each other. I didn't want it to end, I never did, but knew we couldn't stand out here all night. After a few minutes I pulled back, and looked regretfully up at him again.

"We should go back inside, work on this plan," I said with a sigh.

"No," Dean said, turning me back to the bench and pushing on my shoulder until I sat down. "It can wait. You still have to tell me about Gabriel."

"Dean…"

"I mean it, no more avoiding the topic, just tell me what's been going on… you think I don't see you're holding on to something?"

I took a deep breath and nodded, leaning heavily against him. Once more, Dean wrapped his arm around me, wedging me snuggly in against the side of his body before he turned his face to kiss the top of my head.

"Ten words or less, go."

It was an old game we used to play, especially when we first got together and had been having trouble communicating complex emotions. Ten words or less had made cutting through the excess story easier. Because when you got right down to it, the punchline was the key to everything.

"We're having a baby."

Dean's hand tightened on me for a split moment, enough to give away his surprise at the statement.

"A… baby? Wait, you're...?"

"No!" I cut in quickly. "No... I'm not. But Gabriel says I will be..."

Even in the darkness, there was enough moonlight to see him glance sideways at the little baby angel statue under the Magnolia tree. The placeholder for our dead baby's ashes.

He recovered quickly, clearing his throat and mustering up a wry smile for me. "Well, uh, of course. We have a daughter coming, right? You saw her."

I bit down on my lip, closing my eyes and recalling the beautiful little girl I'd held in my arms when Zachariah had transported us to the future. She was a piece of me and Dean, she'd been perfect.

But that's all it was. A vision of a _possible_ future. One we were working overtime to change.

"He also said you would have to give in to Michael. Become his Vessel, and fight Lucifer."

"Not happening."

Dean's voice was certain.

"Yeah, but… in 2014, look at what…"

" _Not… happening."_

I pulled back just enough so that I could peer at his face, which was resolute. His jaw clenched in thought as he once again looked up at the magnolia tree, then over to me.

"Tomorrow… we fix this mess, and then we move on with _our lives, our decisions._ No more angel condoms, no more devil, just us. Armageddon can kiss our asses, because we are not going down without a fight, and we're not giving in without one either."

I smiled, feeling my heart lift lightly with the pep talk.

"Sounds like a plan, Mr Winchester," I replied lightly, kissing his lips.

"Damn straight, _Mrs Winchester,"_ he said, the words enough to make my heart sing for a moment, matching my smile. "We've got this. Together."

I believed him.

* * *

 _ **Inside - Bobby's House  
Sioux Falls, South Dakota**_

Ellen and Castiel were three shots into a drinking challenge at the kitchen table by the time we got inside. The house smelled like it could use a good airing out, thick with the tension of another fight tomorrow, coupled with sour old body odour and whiskey. Ellen had eight shot glasses lined up on the table in front of her, four turned upside down and empty.

With the fifth in hand, Ellen smirked, her perfectly groomed eyebrows a challenge in and of itself to the angel sitting opposite her. To the side of the table was Jo, watching silently while leaning against a wall and sipping from a beer bottle. Ellen drained the shot glass and returned the empty shell, upside-down, to the table.

"All right, big boy," she nodded.

Cas tilted his head slightly to the side and observed his own drinks in front of him. After a moment he nodded and then quickly reached out to knock back one glass after another until all five of his remaining shots were drained. Ellen's mouth dropped open in surprise, and I couldn't help but wonder if my own expression was the same.

Cas smiled and looked over at Dean and I. "I think I'm starting to feel something."

Jo grinned, and I chuckled, opening the fridge to grab three of beers. I cracked them open and sauntered back into the library, handing them out to Dean and Sam who were sitting at the desk.

"It's gotta be a trap, right?" Sam asked as Dean accepted the beer and took a long pull. At Sam's comment he almost choked on the beer before swallowing and raising an eyebrow.

"Sam Winchester, having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never."

"Thank you again for your continued support," Sam said said with a wry smile.

"You're welcome," Dean replied, and they both reached out, clinking their bottles together while Sam scoffed at his brother. I shook my head and sipped my own drink, relishing the feeling of the cold, amber liquid running down my throat.

"You know, trap or no trap, we got a snowball's chance, we gotta take it, right?" Dean said.

"Yeah, I suppose," Sam conceded, looking over at me. I shrugged, and perched on the corner of the desk, looking from Sam to Dean.

"It's not like we have any other leads."

"Besides, I'm not sure it is a trap," Dean said, pushing some papers across the desk. "Check it out. I mean, Carthage is lit up like a Christmas tree with Revelation omens. And look at this…" he spun a couple of papers to Sam.

I glanced down at them, missing persons reports… lots of them.

"There's been six missing persons reported, in town, since Sunday," Dean continued. "I think the devil's there."

It felt like we were just going in circles, conversations had already been discussed about this. Dean was simply driving his point home. Carthage was our best bet, and not only that, it was our _only one._ We simply had no better options, and we all knew it.

"Okay," Sam agreed with a nod.

Dean glanced over at me, hesitating for a moment, I looked at him questioningly - suddenly curious as to what was bothering him.

"Look, Sam, when you think about it…. You can't come with," Dean said finally. Sam rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. My heart thudded to a stop, all at once I saw what he was getting at.

"Dean."

"Look, I go against Satan and screw the pooch, okay. We've lost a game piece. That we can take. But if you're there, then we are handing the devil's vessel right over to him. That's not smart," Dean countered.

Sam opened his mouth, then turned to look at me. "And I suppose you're staying behind?" His voice was accusatory, the question rhetorical, and we all knew it.

With a slightly raised eyebrow I took another drink from my beer bottle and then sighed. "I go where Dean goes."

"How is that smart?" Sam asked. "Since when have we _ever_ done anything smart?"

"I'm serious, Sam," Dean said. I bit my lip, looking from the man I loved, my husband, who I _should_ and usually _did_ support unconditionally. For the first time in a while I disagreed with him.

"So am I. Haven't we learned a damn thing? If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it together," Sam said.

The silence in the room as Dean stared at Sam was deafening. After a moment Dean's eyes flicked toward me, a slight frown.

"Well?" He asked.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "He's right Dean. Every time we split up something goes wrong. We should stick together." Sam tossed me a grateful smile, and his shoulders relaxed, allowing himself to breathe.

Dean stared at me, the frown on his face displeased at my loyalty being with Sam's take on the situation. I stared back, refusing to give in. He knew I was right, and after a while he would….aha!

With a huff Dean looked away first.

"Okay. But it's a stupid frigging idea," he conceded, taking another drink and looking past me until his attention came to focus on Ellen, Castiel and Jo, setting up more drinks.

"Boy," Sam said. "Talk about stupid ideas."

"Good God. True, that," Dean said. "I need another beer."

"I'll get it," I said, anxious to get up and move out of the range of any further conflict. As I entered the kitchen, Jo was rummaging around in the fridge, her ass very clearly and dominantly on display in tight jeans.

"Hey," I said, moving to lean against the bench.

Jo glanced up, and then stood up, holding three beers, two of which she handed to me. "Hey."

"Sorry about Dean, earlier," I started, cracking my bottle open and taking a sip. "He gets over protective."

"Yeah, well, so he should, you're his wife," she said with a short nod. Her gaze trailed into the living room, thoughtful. "I'm sorry too."

"It's okay," I said, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

"No, it's not. Sam's always telling me I need to watch my temper…" she smirked, rolling her eyes and meeting mine. "Like he can talk, huh?"

I chuckled and nodded, we both turned to look back at Sam who was watching Bobby on the other side of the library, out of our line of sight.

"Guess we're all here because of his temper," Jo said finally, a little more sadly.

"We're hunters," I replied. "This is what we do. If it wasn't Sam, it would've been someone else. We'd likely still be in the thick of it. At least we have each other."

"Yeah…" Jo nodded. "At least we have that. So we're good?"

I nodded.

"Everyone get in here!" Bobby demanded. "It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner." Ellen groaned from the kitchen table and stood up, wavering slightly on her feet before walking forward. Jo and I followed with Cas.

"Oh come on, Bobby. Nobody wants their picture taken," Ellen said.

"Hear, hear," Sam agreed.

"Shut up," Bobby snapped. "You're drinking my beer."

Bobby finished setting up his camera on a tripod while Castiel, Sam, Ellen and Dean begrudgingly lined up in front of the lens. Sam was the tallest and took the middle, Castiel to his right, Dean to his left. Ellen, much shorter than them all, stood in front, glaring at the camera.

"Joanna Beth, you get in here too," Ellen ordered and I turned to look at Jo with a grin.

"Beth? Your middle name is Beth?" I asked.

Jo groaned while Dean snorted and waved me over to him. "Now that's funny," he commented, looking over at Jo. The young girl crossed her arms, a scowl marring her otherwise pretty features as she moved up next to her mother, in front of Sam and Castiel.

I slipped around to Dean's side, his arm quickly wrapping around my shoulder as he pulled me up against him. He put his other arm out and around Sam's shoulders and looked at the camera with a smile."

"Anyway, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by," Bobby said, pressing a button and wheeling his chair backwards until he was in front of Dean and I. I reached out to pat his shoulder affectionately while we waited for the countdown.

"Ha!" Ellen said in reply to Bobby. "Always good to have an optimist around."

"Bobby's right," Cas said in his monotone, practical voice. "Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth," he said. I turned to look at him as he finished, shocked that he had pointed out the one thing we'd all been thinking.

Everyone's smiles disappeared, and then I heard the click of the camera as it snapped our picture.

"Well… that's a sombre thought," I muttered. "I need another drink."

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later**_

Sam and Jo had taken Cole's room in the attic, bidding everyone else good night a good hour earlier. Dean and Bobby had sat up talking quietly as I cleaned the kitchen a little, depositing empty bottles into a crate by the door, and washing the stacked dishes on the sink. It felt good to do something mundane, to let myself give in to the simple chore of cleaning, and allow my mind to simply drift without direction. _ **  
**_

Eventually Ellen had bid her good nights and gone up to Bobby's old room to sleep. Castiel had disappeared, I wasn't even sure if he slept. Where exactly did angels go while the rest of us caught up on our beauty sleep? I opened my mind to Cas, filtering through the chatter of a hundred different angels all from the Castiel angelic line, until I found him.

" _Good night, Beth. Get some rest and I will join you all in the morning."_ Cas's reply to my unspoken question came quickly, and then he was gone. I tuned out the white noise, shutting down my _angel radio,_ or whatever Dean had called it, so that I was once again alone in my own head.

"Quit fussing woman!" Bobby snapped as I started to wipe down the benches. I looked through the archway into the library to see him positioning himself into the bed that was now tucked under the window - Bobby's makeshift bedroom now he couldn't climb stairs.

With a smile, I tossed the rag into the sink and went to place a kiss on his forehead. "Quit your complaining old man," I said with a grin. "It's one less thing you have to worry about tomorrow."

"Hmph," Bobby said, laying back against his pillow. "At least that fool daughter of mine isn't here to join you."

My smile dropped at the mention of Cole's name. "Have you heard from her? Where is she?" I asked, an ache in my chest at the reminder of the missing woman who was like a sister.

"How the dang hell would I know? You think she tells her dear ol' dad anything? Flaming idjit she is," he said with a sigh.

"I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is," I replied, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "Better she's with JJ and safe, than joining us tomorrow."

"For once that's something I can agree on," Bobby said softly, and then he grunted, waving his hand impatiently at me. "Get goin' you. I got some sleepin' to do."

I crossed the library and paused in the doorway leading to the stairs. "Good night Bobby," I said after a moment.

"Good night, baby girl," he replied, before rolling over to face the window. My heart spasmed at the old term of endearment that both Bobby and John had been using since I was fifteen. With a sadness, I turned to climb the stairs up to the room that was now Dean's and mine, Sam having been ousted from sharing with us years ago.

* * *

 _ **Want to see what happens on their last night before facing the Devil? Head over to Dean & Beth: The X-Files Chapter 28! **_

* * *

_**The Next Day  
** **Carthage, Missouri**_

The town was deserted upon our arrival. Not something we had expected, though it certainly wasn't surprising. I peered out the window of the Impala and took in the missing posters tacked to the telephone poles. To our left was a billboard declaring that ANTI-GOD IS ANTI-AMERICAN with an American flag in the background. Next to it was, strangely, a sign advertising Adult Videos.

I hung my arm out the window, phone in hand, waving it around like I belonged on some kind of TV advertisement for better phone reception.

"You getting a signal?" Sam asked from behind me, squinting at his phone.

"No," I said, shaking my head at the missing bars on my screen.

Dean also had his phone out his side of the car, but now brought it back inside and sighed.

"Nothing," he said. "Nice and spooky."

He stuffed the phone into his jacket and then waved his empty hand out the window. Behind us, Ellen swerved to pull her car up alongside us, Jo riding shotgun, while Cas sat in the back seat.

"Place seem a little empty to you?" Ellen asked through the open windows.

Dean nodded, his eyes sweeping the streets. We were one tumbleweed short of a western movie before a major showdown.

"We're gonna go check out the PD. You guys stay here, see if you can find anybody," he said after a moment.

"Okay," Ellen said.

Eerily, the station was just as empty. Not a single desk clerk remained in the old, worn police department. I carried my shotgun with me, just in case, as I moved through the back cells. Surely there'd be someone locked up? A drunk? The police chief who hadn't gone along with whoever else was running the show in this town… with _Lucifer._

The thought didn't sit well with me, and I was starting to think we had made a mistake coming here. Sam had been right, it had to be a trap, why else was the town deserted? _Where was everyone?_

A noise clattered behind me, I spun on my heel, gun pointed, only to find Sam with his hands raised to the side.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, and I lowered my gun, glaring at him with a smile.

"Nearly caught a chest full of rock salt then little brother," I grinned, Sam smiled back at me.

"Save it for the demons," he replied, a frown creasing his brow.

"Would that we could find them…"

Dean appeared in the doorway behind Sam. "Nothing?" He asked.

"Quiet as a ghost town," I responded and he lifted his chin, gesturing back toward the front of the building.

"Let's get back to Ellen."

As we walked outside, Ellen and Jo pulled up alongside the Impala.

"Station's empty," Dean said, stopping beside their open window and looking around.

"So's everything else," Jo replied.

"Have you seen Cas?" Ellen asked. I looked up urgently, my attention instantly drawn to the angel. I reached out with my senses, seeking him.

"What?" Sam asked. "He was with you."

 _Cas?_ I whispered it telepathically to him, like we often did.

"Nope," Ellen said. "He went after the reapers."

"Reapers?" Dean said.

"He saw reapers?" Sam asked. "Where?"

My heart stopped at the thought. We didn't exactly like running into those in this family.

"Well, kind of everywhere," Jo replied.

"Everywhere?" I asked.

"Yeah," Ellen chimed in. "It didn't look good. He said they only gather in times of great catastrophe... he mentioned Pompeii."

I shared a concerned look with Dean, and let out a long breath. "That… doesn't sound good."

"What about your, eh, angel radio thing…. Can you hear him?" Dean asked, his eyes hopeful. I bit my lip, concentrating again and once more reaching out to the missing angel.

My surroundings faded, and I was moving through time and space, like fast forwarding through a movie. One moment I was standing in Spain, watching a matador practicing his moves; the next I was in a burger joint, listening to a radio broadcast about the strange weather patterns. I tuned these scenes out, like fine tuning a radio, seeking the Castiel I knew.

All these were other angels within the _angelic line,_ all angels who I could host. Yet, I never spoke to them. I knew they were there, but there was really only _one_ Castiel to me.

Suddenly I was standing in a dark room, lit by firelight. I glanced down, seeing flames, and then…

I gasped, feeling myself pushed out, thrust back into the here and now. Dean moved to catch me as I staggered and opened my eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded, gripping his forearm. "I'm fine. Just… disoriented."

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah, I think so," I replied, biting my lip. "Wherever he is, it's dark… and there's a fire..."

"Fire?" Sam asked, and I nodded.

"He shut me out before I could see more."

"Well that's just great," Dean cursed, sighing and turning to kick the wheel of the Impala. "Dammit!"

"So we go on without him," Ellen said, climbing out of the car. "The mission hasn't changed."

"Maybe we'll find Cas on the way," Jo said, joining us on the pavement. "He might be in the school basement looking at the boiler for all we know."

I reached out again, trying to locate the angel, but this time the way was barred to me. He'd shut me out. That did not bolster my spirits.

Dean sighed, but nodded at the same time. "Yeah okay, let's move. We'll go on foot from here. He can't have gotten far."

* * *

 _ **Short While Later**_

The streets were eerily silent and empty as we walked along them. I glanced into an abandoned car, bringing up the rear with Dean and Sam. Ellen and Jo were just a couple of paces ahead, no one seemed to want to separate too much now that Cas had gone missing. It was too quiet.

The feel of the double barrel shotgun should have been a comfort, but it was lost to me. This was no run of ghosts or haints, salt would do precious little against a horde of demons. If we could stay in one place, long enough to exorcise them, maybe. But on the move… it was habit more than anything else that caused us to arm ourselves against those we couldn't really harm.

 _Where was Castiel?_

I opened my senses again, but was greeted with a continued wall of static. Cas was blocking me, whatever was going on, he didn't want me to see or hear him. If Lucifer did have him, perhaps this was his way of protecting us. My blood ran cold at the thought.

 _What if…?_

No. I would know if the one angel who had been watching over me, my mother, my family... for millennia...was dead. I'd feel it if he were gone. I had once, and I would again. Wherever Castiel was he was alive, albeit silent.

"Well, this is great," Dean muttered next to me. "...been in town twenty minutes and already lost the angel up our sleeve."

"You think, uh, you think Lucifer got him?" Sam asked from my left.

"I don't know what else to think," Dean replied.

"There you are," a strange woman's voice stopped us dead in our tracks. I turned, squinting into the sun and focusing my eyes to take in the lone figure standing behind us.

She had long, wavy dark hair. I had seen her before. Months ago… after Sam broke the seal.

"Meg?" It was more a question than a statement. The last I'd seen her, she'd vacated the very person she was possessing, leaving us with a hell of a mess to clean up, including getting Bobby to the hospital before he bled out. We hadn't stopped to check on the girl, I had assumed she was dead.

Apparently Meg had taken a liking to the body and come back to reclaim her.

"Meg…" Sam sighed. My hand tightened on the forestock of the gun, and I fought an itch to pump a shell into the barrel and blow her away. It wouldn't do much, other than make me feel better.

"Shouldn't have come here," she smirked. Meg's stance was confident, relaxed, that alone was enough to make me wonder what she had up her sleeve.

 _Castiel?_ I sent another thought out directly to him. Nothing.

"Hell, I could say the same thing for you," Dean said, I was pulled back into the moment as he took a few steps closer, and lifted his hand to aim the colt directly at her. My heart started to race.

Meg didn't even flinch, the smirk on her face grew as she rolled her eyes, staring straight down the barrel of the gun.

"Didn't come here alone, Deano…" she said. Her eyes flicked downwards at the same time as something splashed in a puddle at her feet. As if on cue, the sound of several dogs growling and barking announced she was telling the truth.

"Hellhounds," Dean confirmed, his voice sounding a little higher pitched than usual.

The blood drained from my face, from the snarls we were flanked from the side. We could hold them back with a couple of well paced shots. But we'd never see them coming. And once they had our scent… they'd never stop.

"Yeah, Dean. Your favourite," Meg smiled. "Come on, Brady Bunch. My father wants to see you."

Dean's head dropped slightly, but his hand held true. If his reaction was anything like mine, he would be terrified. The memories of the night he'd been dragged to Hell hit like a tidal wave. I could barely move, but fought not to show it.

 _No no no no no…._

"I think we'll pass, thanks," Sam's voice was unwavering as he replied for everyone.

"Your call. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard," Meg said easily.

Dean glanced over his shoulder at me, and then Ellen. I turned my head slightly to the left, seeing her nod. I prepared for whatever came next, shifting my feet to make sure they still worked.

"When have you known us to ever make anything easy?" Dean asked with a chuckle, turning back to look down his arm, and the colt, to Meg.

Meg smiled and shook her head at him. At the same time Dean dropped his arm and fired. Blood spurted from the invisible hound next to her, all over Meg's boots.

"Run!" Sam ordered. All five of us turned, sprinting down the road. I glanced behind me to see Dean gaining on us, before turning my head.

A snarl sounded behind me and I turned in time to see Dean fall to the ground, tackled to the ground by an unseen force.

"Argh!"

Dean grunted, attempting to stand up, but his legs gave out from under him before he'd even straightened up.

My heart stopped.

"Dean!"

He started to get dragged backwards along the road, his hands trying to hold on to anything, to slow the movement.

"Beth! Stay back!"

 _No no no no no!_

I had to reach him. I _couldn't_ see him ripped apart again. I lifted the stock to my shoulder, aiming just above Dean's head, and took a couple of running steps after him. Dean kicked out, managing to break contact with the hellhound for a split second.

 _Close enough._

I squeezed the trigger with a prayer.

 _Please please please..._

The hound yelped, and I saw a splash in the puddle behind Dean. I aimed, following the blood spray and its movement. I shot again, another yelp from the hound.

Everything slowed down. My heartbeat pounded in my ears like a herd of horses thundering around me in a stampede. Then nothing.

Sound faded like water being pulled out to sea before a tidal wave, until I could only see Dean's mouth moving in the periphery of my vision as he struggled to get up. Beside me, movement flashed as Jo's blonde hair came into view and she stepped closer to Dean.

She was tracking the hound I'd shot, and I saw her fire several more times, stalking it while I grabbed Dean's arm and pulled him to his feet.

His eyes. They were terrified. He had dropped his gun in the melee, and then he yelled, one word, readable from his lips even though I couldn't hear him.

" _Run!"_

He spun me and we started to move together. I wrapped an arm around him as one of his legs seemed to give out. Beside us, Jo backed up from the hound she'd been shooting, moving alongside us.

 _We gotta move, we're too exposed!_

"Jo!" Ellen's voice called out, with it the tidal wave finally returned and hit; sound crashed down around me.. time slipped back into normality.

"Hurry, they could be anywhere..." Dean said pushing me as we raced toward Sam and Ellen.

I heard a growl from behind and let go of Dean, protecting him with my body as I fired randomly into the air behind us, missing.

 _Where was it?!_

"Come on!" Jo's voice was commanding, she had also shot in the same direction, but now turned to resume running.

Another gnarly sound came from my right, I looked, just in time to see dust kick and Jo pulled to the ground. She cried out as huge claw marks opened up on her stomach.

 _Jo!_

"No!" Ellen was the one to yell it… and I could hear the panic in her voice. I pushed my own paralysing fear deep down and forced myself to move. I aimed, let out a breath, and pulled the trigger. The hound shrieked in pain as I hit my mark.

 _Oh god!_

Dean ran, scooping Jo up as I fired again, and then Sam and Ellen reached us, also firing into the street, hoping to hit something. We moved for the hardware store next to us, Sam and I holding the line while Ellen threw the doors open.

We piled through, Sam bringing up the rear with a few more shots before slamming the doors closed. He grabbed a huge chain off some shelves and looped it around the handles. The doors buckled with a force of at least two hellhounds hitting them; the chains held, but wouldn't for long. It wasn't going to be enough.

 _We're all going to die in here._

I frantically looked around, seeing bags of rock salt piled nearby and hurried to grab one, tossing it to Sam before getting my own. He sliced it open with his knife and started to pour the contents along the threshold and up onto the window sill to the left. As I reached the doors I locked eyes with Sam who glanced back toward the middle of the shop. I followed his desperate expression to see Dean and Ellen had taken Jo further in, leaning her against a counter.

"Need some help here!" Ellen called out as I cut open my own bag and started to pour the salt.

"Go!" I panted, continuing until the salt was across the threshold of the entire doorway. As Sam moved toward Ellen and Jo, the growling and thrusting against the doors stopped. All that I could hear was the sound of my own hard breathing and Jo's whimpers.

 _They're still out there._

I quickly lined the other windowsill and then turned to see Jo pull her hands away from her stomach - blood spurting out from two large lacerations. Ellen panted, kneeling next to Jo and throwing Sam and Dean a panicked look.

 _Castiel. Where are you?_

My thoughts rang out, trying to connect to the angel. But there was no reply.

We were on our own.

* * *

 _ **Later**_

Ellen was crouched next to Jo, having just finished bandaging her stomach wounds. I grimaced from where I stood, seeing the blood seep through the white sterile gauze. It wasn't going to be enough.

Sam walked up and handed Ellen a bowl of water, leaning down to wipe Jo's sweaty brow before caressing her face. She smiled up at him, and my heart broke.

 _Oh, Sam..._

"You got those batteries?" Dean asked beside me, and I startled myself back to what we were doing.

"Uh, yeah," I answered. "Here." I handed him a couple of double A batteries and he slotted them into the back of the radio transmitter we'd found in the back office. He worked deftly, replacing the cover and then started to adjust the controls.

"Dean…"

"I know," he said, pausing to look over at me. "It's bad."

I nodded, opening my mouth but not finding any words. I blinked a couple of times, forcing back the fear that was pounding inside my head, threatening to come out in tears.

"Dean… I…"

He stopped, his expression softening as he reached out a hand, settling it around the back of my neck and pulling my forehead in against his.

"We're getting out of here," he said stubbornly. I bit my lower lip and nodded, the movement causing friction between our skin as he held my head firmly.

"But…"

"Beth," his words were forced. "We're getting out of here."

He dropped his hand, turning back to the radio and making some more adjustments. "We just gotta come up with a plan."

Sam rose to his feet, glancing over at us before striding away from Ellen and Jo. Dean and I were just out of hearing, and we'd deliberately done that to give everyone space. As Sam reached us, Dean looked up from what he was doing.

"How's she holding up?" He asked, throwing a glance back at Jo.

Sam paused, looking at his brother and they shared a moment not unlike one Dean and I had experienced earlier.

 _We're not getting out of here._

"Salt lines are holding up," Sam changed the subject.

At least that was true. I'd made sure every entrance to the building was salted while Ellen and Sam had worked to stabilise Jo.

"Safe for now," Dean nodded.

"Safer," Sam replied. "Trapped like rats."

"Hey, you heard Meg. Her father's here," Dean said. "This is our one shot, Sammy. We gotta take it, no matter what."

I looked a Jo and Ellen on the floor. _No matter what._ Was this it? Was this how we all died? In a foolish conquest to kill the devil? I almost wanted to laugh at Gabriel's stupid prophecy now. Suddenly it was preferable to what we were facing. How wrong he'd been.

 _There's not going to be a baby. There's not even going to be an_ us _by nightfall._

Dean let out a long breath, hitting the side of the radio, it squealed to life.

"Here we go," he said looking up at me.

"Sam, some help here, please?" Ellen called out. Sam moved immediately, leaving us alone again.

"You think he's gonna be okay?" I asked Dean once we were alone.

"He's gotta be," Dean said. "We need him."

He tuned the radio to where it needed to be, and then clicked the transmission button. "K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, come in."

Nothing but silence greeted us.

"Come on…" I muttered under my breath as Dean tried again.

"K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, come in." Radio static grated on my nerves as we tried again to reach the outside world. For whatever reason our cellphones weren't working, and it had become clear that we were now reliant on other forms of communication.

Another pause, and then a squeal before, " _K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, go ahead."_

Bobby's voice echoed back to us and I closed my eyes in gratitude.

 _Thank God!_

"Bobby, it's Dean. We got problems."

Another pause.

" _It's okay, boy. That's why I'm here,"_ Bobby replied _. "Is everyone all right?"_

Dean's face cracked, the first sign since we'd reached the shop, that he was walking on a tightrope, trying to hold it all together.

"No," he said into the radio, clearing his throat. "It's… it's… it's Jo. Bobby it's pretty bad."

I reached out, laying my hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

" _Okay. Copy that. So now we figure out what we do next."_

"Bobby, I don't think she's…" Dean's voice failed him as he swallowed hard and broke off the sentence. There was a pause from Bobby's end, just a moment in time, yet it spoke volumes.

" _I said, what do we do next, Dean?"_

Dean leaned heavily on the bench next to us, bringing his hand up to his head. I squeezed his shoulder again.

"We can do this," I said, pushing my own anguish at Jo's condition down deep inside.

 _You focus on what comes next. The past is the past, you can't change it. It can't help you now, but it_ can _hurt you. What are you going to do now, Beth? Right now? That's what counts. That's what will keep you alive._

John and Bobby had both drilled this into us a hundred, maybe a thousand times. I wondered if the same lines were echoing through Dean's mind like they were mine. He took a moment and then nodded to himself. I watched him visibly pull himself back together, just like we'd been trained to do.

"Right," he said, clearing his throat, his eyes locking with mine as he clicked the button on the radio again. "Okay, right."

" _Now, tell me what you got."_ Bobby said. I reached out to take the radio from Dean, and started to recount what had just happened.

* * *

 _ **Later**_

" _Before he went missing, did Cas say how many reapers?"_ Bobby had moved on to the books.

"I don't…." Dean looked searchingly at me, all I could do was shrug. "He said a lot of things, I guess. Does the number matter?"

" _Devil's in the details, Dean."_

Ellen had walked away from Jo, leaving her alone with Sam who was now sitting beside her, holding her hand and talking softly into her ear. As she approached, she raised a bloodied hand up and tapped Dean on the shoulder, his back still turned to her like he couldn't bear to look at Jo.

He turned, and Ellen gestured for the radio. Without a word, Dean held it out, clicking the button.

"Bobby, it's Ellen. The way he was looking, the number of places Castiel's eyes went, I'd say we're talking over a dozen reapers, probably more," she replied.

" _I don't like the sound of that,"_ Bobby replied.

"Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby," Dean said, "but what...wh...what does that sound like?"

" _It sounds like death, son. I think Satan's in town to work a ritual. I think he's planning to unleash Death."_

"You mean, like, as in this dude and taxes are the only sure thing?" Dean asked.

" _As in Death. The horseman. The pale rider in the flesh."_

"Unleash?" Dean asked. "I mean, hasn't Death been tromping all over the place? Hell, I've died several times myself." I shivered at the thought, sighing at Dean who threw me an apologetic look.

" _Not this guy." Bobby answered. "This is—this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat. That's why the place is crawling with reapers. They're waiting on the big boss to show."_

"It makes sense. It's the apocalypse," I commented. "When else would the four horseman rise? And _who else_ more qualified than Lucifer to make it happen?"

"You have any other good news?" Dean asked.

" _In a manner of speaking,"_ Bobby replied. There was a pause. We all stood by the radio, waiting breathlessly for him to start broadcasting again.

" _I been researching Carthage since you've been gone, trying to suss out what the devil might want there. What you just said drops the last piece of the puzzle in place. The angel of death must be brought into this world at midnight through a place of awful carnage. Now, back during the Civil War, there was a battle in Carthage. A battle so intense the soldiers called it the Battle of Hellhole."_

"Good place to raise Death incarnate," I said softly.

Dean's face turned thoughtful. "Where'd the massacre go down?" He asked of Bobby.

" _On the land of William Jasper's farm."_

* * *

 _ **Later**_

"That's my girl, you're okay, honey," Ellen was wiping a cloth across Jo's sweat-soaked forehead, desperately trying to reassure herself more than anyone else that her one and only daughter was going to make it out of here. The more I looked, the more I realised that it wasn't going to happen. Not if we wanted to complete the mission.

"Now we know where the devil's gonna be, we know when, and we have the Colt," Dean said with a lowered voice to both Sam and I.

"Yeah. We just have to get past eight or so hellhounds and get to the farm by midnight," Sam said. As if they'd heard us, there was a growl and a thump at the doors again, but the chains held, as did the salt line.

"Yeah, and that's after we get Jo and Ellen the hell out of town," Dean said, stubborn as ever.

Sam nodded, pausing to glance over at Jo. "Won't be easy."

"Guys, Jo isn't walking out of here, look at her," I pointed out. "It's impossible."

Dean's brow furrowed as he looked at Sam, oblivious to what I was saying. "Stretcher?" He asked. Sam nodded quickly in agreement.

"I'll see what we got," he said, starting to walk away.

Jo's eyes met mine, and she rolled them, struggling to sit up a little straighter.

"Stop. Guys, stop," she said. Ellen looked over to where Dean and Sam paused, and sighed.

"Can we, uh, be realistic about this, please? Uh! I can't move my legs. I can't be moved. My guts are being held in by an ace bandage. We gotta—we gotta get our priorities straight here." She was fighting to hold her emotions in check, but there was an understandable fear in her eyes as she met Sam's shocked look.

"Number one, I'm not going anywhere," she added.

"Joanna Beth, you stop talking like that," Ellen snapped.

"Beth's right," Jo said with a solemn nod before looking at Ellen. "Mom. I can't fight. I can't walk. But I can do something. We got propane, wiring, rock salt, iron nails, everything we need."

"Everything we need?" Sam asked, still in denial. I looked over this girl, a newfound respect for her strength and courage. She looked at me and nodded slightly, seeing that I was on the same page.

"To build a bomb, Sam," Jo finished.

"No," Dean said, shaking his head vigorously. "Jo, no. No one is dying here today."

"You got another plan?" Jo asked. "You got any other plan?"

We all fell silent, contemplating her words.

Jo sucked in another breath and sighed. "Those are _hellhounds_ out there, Dean. They've got all of our scents. Those bitches will never stop coming after you. We let the dogs in, you guys hit the roof, make a break for the building next over. I can wait here with my finger on the button, rip those mutts a new one. Or at least get you a few minutes' head start, anyway."

"No," Ellen said. "I...I won't let you."

"This is why we're here, right?" Jo asked as Ellen shook her head, tears in her eyes.

"If I can get us a shot on the devil….Beth, come on, you know it…. we have to take it," Jo said, looking straight at me.

"No!" Ellen protested, looking up at me. "That's not…"

I met Ellen's eyes, letting the truth settle into them. She stared back at me, her eyes narrowing.

"Mom," Jo said, looking at Ellen. "This might literally be your last chance to treat me like an adult. Might wanna take it?" She smiled, and Ellen started to sob.

"Jo, are you sure about this?" I asked, hesitating for the first time.

Jo nodded, turning to look at her mother. They shared an understanding, Ellen's sobs starting to subside. Ellen barked out an order, not daring to look up at the three of us still standing. "You heard her. Get to work."

I turned, pulling myself together and focusing on the job at hand. We needed salt, and that I knew where to find. Dean and Sam busied themselves getting the other materials and piling them in one place. While we worked, the skies outside grew darker with dusk.

Finally, it was done. Sam was sitting with Jo, holding her hand and speaking softly in her ear. She smiled, and turned to kiss his cheek. Beside me, Dean took long, slow breaths and strung wire to the detonator button.

"This is crazy," he muttered.

"This is the only way," I said, taking his hand and squeezing. "And you know it."

Dean glanced back at Sam and scowled. "First Jess… now this. How's he gonna make it out of here?"

"Like we all do, because we were made for this, Dean. We'll do it because we have to."

Dean's shoulder shook with a heavy sigh before he pulled them back and led the way back to Jo.

"Okay, this is it," he said, crouching down besides her. "I'll see you on the other side. Probably sooner than later."

"Make it later," Jo said as he handed her the detonator. Quietly she started crying, and Dean pulled her head slightly forward to kiss her on the forehead, leaning his against her for a moment as they shared a silent moment. Then he stood up, and walked down an aisle toward the back room.

I knelt down next to Jo, seeing tears brimming in Sam's eyes as he remained next to her.

"You're the bravest girl I know," I said with a smile, reaching out to brush my thumb across her cheek, smoothing away a couple of tears. Jo smiled, and shook her head.

"No I'm not, I'm just a realist," she said. "You take care of these boys, okay?"

"With my life," I promised, glancing at Sam then standing up and walking over to join Dean at the back of the store, where he was keeping himself preoccupied by checking, and re-checking our shotguns.

I wanted to ask him if he was okay, to pull him into a hug, but not now. Now was not the time for us to lose our focus. We knew what it was going to take to get out of there. We had to stay on track.

"Ellen's staying," he said after a moment.

"What?" I asked, looking back to where Sam was now walking away from their mother and daughter. "No!"

"She's gotta," Dean said. "And she wants to."

"But we…"

"Someone has to open the door, Beth," Dean said, the look on his face told me he didn't like it any more than me. He was right. Ellen stood up, peering down the aisle toward the three of us.

"Beth, boys, get going now," she ordered.

"Ellen…" I faltered, struggling to find words.

"I said go," she replied, nodding at us. Sam pushed past me, opening the door into the back storage room.

"And Dean?" Ellen called out, waiting for Dean to turn and face her. "Kick it in the ass. Don't miss."

Dean nodded once, and then pushed me ahead of him. "Let's go."

We hurried after Sam, who was pulling down a ladder that led up to the rooftop. He hoisted me up the rest of the way when I reached him, and I gripped the rungs, pulling myself up one hand at a time. Once I had a foothold I glanced back to see Dean following me. I scrambled the rest of the way up to the root and pushed the door at the top up and over.

Dean was right behind me, and Sam emerged seconds later. "Keep moving," he said, nodding toward the rooftop of the shop next door. We sprinted across the top of the hardware store, and I looked down, planning my steps. With practiced ease, I launched myself off the edge of the shop, my momentum carrying me easily over to the other rooftop where I rolled a couple of times and then got to my feet.

Dean and Sam followed, Sam now in the lead. He reached a fire escape and started to climb down first. Dean gestured for me to follow, and then he took the rear. As we reached the alley below, we paused, listening for any signs of hellhounds, but the night was silent.

Out of nowhere, the sky lit up in a blaze of orange and yellow as Jo and Ellen set off the bomb. I gasped from the size of it, then we ran, hard as we could to get back to the Impala and go after our target.

* * *

 _ **William Jasper's Farm**_

The farm was surrounded by low lying bushes. We crawled up a slight rise and peered down into a field beyond. Dozens of men stood, in no particular order aside from staring at a man digging in the centre.

"Guess we know what happened to some of the townspeople," Dean said, crouching beside me.

"And that's Lucifer," Sam said, nodding at the man in the middle of the demons.

"This is it, then…" I stated, licking my lips. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.

"Okay," Sam said.

"Okay," Dean said with a nod.

Sam hesitated, looking from Dean to me. "Last words?"

"Oh Sam…" I said, reaching around Dean to squeeze his arm.

Sam stared at me for a moment, and I filled my eyes with determination and that stubbornness we were all known for. We had to get out of here, we had to succeed.

Dean watched this, and then raised an eyebrow as Sam turned to him. "I think I'm good."

Sam paused, locking eyes with Dean and then nodded. "Yeah, me too."

We gripped the shotguns we were holding, Dean checking the colt one more time, and then we stood up, walking toward the scene before us.

"Hey!" Sam called out, moving slightly ahead of us, shotgun at the ready. "You wanted to see me?"

Lucifer turned dropping the shovel he'd been using to fill a hole, and smiled. I saw middle-aged, blonde haired man, staring back at us, his eyes tired, his face sporting more than a five o'clock shadow. There were lines starting to mar his face, telltales that his vessel was not holding up to the pressure of containing one of the strongest archangels ever created.

"Oh, Sam, you don't need that gun here. You know I'd never hurt you. Not really," he said.

Dean had flanked Lucifer while he looked at Sam, he stepped up beside the angel, raising the colt to the side of his head. "Yeah? Well, I'd hurt you," he said. "So suck it."

He pulled the trigger, the shot echoing across the field. In front of my eyes I saw Lucifer fall to the ground, then glanced at the demons around us. No one moved. Dean stood over the body, breathing heavily, and shared stunned looks with us.

We'd done it!

But then Lucifer moved, sitting up and groaning. "Oowwwwww!"

 _Shit!_

Lucifer stood up, cracking his neck to the side, and looking at Dean. "Where did you get that?" Sam looked horrified, and before Dean could move, Lucifer punched him. I saw him fly through the air, and hit a tree trunk with a resounding _crack!_ He didn't move, unconscious… or?

"Dean!" I took a few steps toward him, while Sam faced Lucifer alone.

"Now, where were we?" Lucifer asked. "Don't feel too bad, Sam. There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them. But if you give me a minute, I'm almost done."

Lucifer picked up the shovel he'd dropped and moved two scoops of dirt while Sam hurried back to us. I reached for Dean's wrist, feeling a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive," I said to Sam who hovered over me.

"You know," Lucifer called out, leaning on the shovel he was holding. "I don't suppose you'd just say yes here and now? End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?

"It's never gonna happen!" Sam said, his voice filled with anger.

Lucifer shrugged and went back to filling the hole next to him. "Oh, I don't know, Sam. I think it will. I think it'll happen soon. Within six months. And I think it'll happen in Detroit."

"Detroit?" I said, standing up. "Sam. That's where…" my voice trailed off, and Sam exchanged a look with me. He'd heard the story of what happened with Zachariah had teleported Dean and I into the future. Sam had said yes to Lucifer, in Detroit.

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch," Sam said, his eyes filled with fury. "I'm gonna kill you myself, you understand me? I'm going to rip your heart out!"

"That's good, Sam," Lucifer encouraged with a smile. "You keep fanning that fire in your belly. All that pent-up rage. I'm gonna need it."

Sam instantly stopped, catching his breath as he tried not to give in to the rage that had freed Lilith in the first place. I glanced around, seeing the men all standing in the field, seemingly oblivious to our little drama playing out, right in front of them.

"What did you do? What did you do to this town?" I asked.

"Oh, I was very generous with this town," Lucifer replied, looking at me. "One demon for every able-bodied man."

"And the rest of them?" Sam asked.

Lucifer paused, then gestured to the hole he was filling in. "In there. I know, it's awful, but these horsemen are so demanding. So it was women and children first."

Sam bristled next to me, Lucifer seemed to notice.

"I know what you must think of me, Sam. But I have to do this. _I have to_. You of all people should understand."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

Lucifer dropped the shovel again, turning back to us.

"I was a son. A brother, like you, a younger brother, and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael….Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own." He paused, glancing between us. "He sided with _our Father,_ even when our Father took it out on someone I loved more than anyone. He broke… the only being I ever loved, ripped out her grace, and for what? For the whims of a _human."_

Who was he talking about? Someone Lucifer, fallen archangel, had _loved?_ I had never heard of any such legend or myth about this.

"Tell me something, Sam," Lucifer continued. "Any of this sound familiar? Look at your own sister… look at her next to you. She wasn't made for this life." I frowned, seeing him look to me now. "Your father turned her into something she was never meant to be. You weren't born to be a hunter, you were made into one."

"I didn't have a choice," I replied.

" _Neither did she!"_ Lucifer yelled.

Then he visibly calmed himself. "Anyway. You'll have to excuse me. Midnight is calling and I have a ritual to finish. Don't go anywhere. Not that you could if you would."

 _Beth._

I startled, hearing Castiel's voice come into my mind.

" _Cas!" I thought back at him._

 _Shhhhh. Not so loud. He'll hear._

I looked toward Lucifer and then closed my eyes, shielding my mind like Cas had taught me. Lucifer turned and started a chant in a language I didn't know, before turning to his demons.

"Now repeat after me. We offer up our lives, blood, souls…"

The demons repeated the words. At our feet, Dean stirred, shaking his head.

" _Cas. Where are you?"_ I sent my thought out while Lucifer was talking, hoping it was enough. The thought that an archangel could read my mind, when not of my angelic lineage was slightly terrifying. " _We need to get out of here."_ Sending him a telepathic image of what was occurring in front of us, how the colt hadn't worked.

"To complete this tribute," Lucifer continued, and his words were echoed back at him from the demons. I helped Dean to struggle to his feet, and saw a flash of gold, as one by one the demons started to fall over dead.

Lucifer turned to take in our looks of horror. "What?" He asked. "They're just demons."

I felt a familiar lurch in my stomach as I was telepathically linked in to Castiel, and started to see through his eyes.

I was back in the dark room, a ring of holy oil around my feet. To my left, a bolt on the pipe was spinning, slowly loosening as Meg watched me from the other side of the fire, her arms crossed, a smirk on her face.

"You seem pleased," Cas spoke.

"We're gonna win. Can you feel it? You cloud-hopping pansies lost the whole damn universe. Lucifer's gonna take over Heaven. We're going to Heaven, Clarence."

"Strange," Cas replied. "Because I heard a different theory from a demon named Crowley."

Meg looked at us, and then scoffed. "You don't know Crowley."

"He believes Lucifer is just using demons to achieve an end, and that, once he does, he'll destroy you all," Cas continued. All the while, my attention followed Cas's… the spinning bolt, the key to our freedom.

"You're wrong," Meg countered. "Lucifer is the father of our race. Our creator. Your god may be a deadbeat. Mine—mine walks the earth."

Cas got the bolt loose and pulled the pipe free of the wall. It slammed Meg through the fire, and straight into our arms."

 _Beth. Get ready!_

I found myself catapulted back into my own body, catching my breath and taking a step back as Dean startled at my movement, slipping an arm around my waist.

Lucifer was staring at the buried space, I gripped Dean's hand in mine, and then reached out for Sam. "Get ready," I whispered.

"What?" Dean asked.

The ground began to rumble in front of Lucifer as _something_ moved under it, rising to the surface.

Behind us, Castiel appeared with a finger to his lips. He glanced once at Lucifer, and then reached out to grasp Sam's and Dean's shoulders. Just like that we all vanished, the scene of Death rising, fading from our vision.

* * *

 _ **EPILOGUE**_

 _ **Bobby's House**_

The next twelve hours had been hell. The glasses from Ellen and Castiel's drinking game were still on the table in the library, untouched, forgotten during my cleaning spree in the kitchen. I stared sadly at the empty shots, dull pain settling upon my body like a heavy blanket. I wanted to shrug it off, but I knew better. It was not going to be that easy.

My concern was more on Dean, who hadn't spoken a word since our return. He'd turned on the TV, and sat on the couch, staring at its flicking screen until settling on a 24 hour news station.

On screen at the moment was the same report that had been playing for the last hour. The screen flashed **STATE OF EMERGENCY, Paulding County.** The results of Lucifer's ritual were starting to show.

" _Just received an update that the governor has declared a state of emergency for Paulding County, including the towns of Marion, Fetterville, and Carthage. The storm system has reportedly touched off a number of tornadoes in the area,_ " a reporter read from the teleprompter.

I sighed, turning to see Sam and Bobby gathered around the fireplace, a small fire burning in the hearth. Bobby held a copy of the photograph taken before we'd left. Not even twenty four hours earlier, and we were missing two of the members in there.

" _Death tolls have yet to be estimated, but state officials expect the loss of life and property to be staggering,"_ continued the news report.

"Dean," I said softly, watching, hoping he'd look up at me. He didn't. He simply stared at the TV, ignoring everyone. I glanced at Bobby and Sam, sharing a concerned look with the latter, and shrugged.

Bobby frowned, before looking down at the picture. I watched as he leaned forward and dropped the photo into the flames. A burst of fire flared up, engulfing the photo, and then it melted as the heat burned it to ash.

"Dean, get up, _say something,"_ Sam said finally.

It was how John would have handled it. Would have made Dean, handle it.

"Leave 'im be," Bobby said, surprising me. "We could all use a break." He pushed on his the wheels of his chair and propelled himself out of the library and toward the front door.

I sighed, moving to sit beside Dean, taking his hand in mine and squeezing.

" _It has been over forty years since this many tornadoes have been sighted in one place!"_ A reporter's voice shouted over the roar of wind behind him. " _Emergency services are stretched beyond their means. It's as if the end of the world is coming!"_

"We're going to get through this Dean," I said. He didn't respond. "I promise."

But in my heart, I didn't feel it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this update, I know it's been a long time coming!

I very much appreciate all the encouragement I've received during my absence, believe me I take all of it on board and it keeps me wanting to continue with the story.

There's a few little deviations as we start to wander into side stories slightly too. More of Lucifer's story will be told in _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ following Gabriel and Sariel. Like I said, I'm following Canon, but unlike a lot of fanfics I've seen out there with OC's written in, I am trying to change it up a little too.

* * *

Song for this chapter is "Down" by Jason Walker

* * *

Please leave your reviews and let me know what you think!

P.S. If you do leave a review, don't make it anonymous if you expect a response or are asking questions. I actually do take the time to respond to reviews :) And if you have questions, I always do my best to answer them!


	12. Bloodstone

_Oh no, I'm not afraid to bleed  
_ _Work my hands to the bone  
_ _More words are not what you need  
_ _I let my labor show_

 _Can't do it on my own, I need you to believe  
_ _So please, please, squeeze  
_ _Cause there's more in this bloodstone  
_ _Yeah, there's more in this bloodstone  
_

* * *

 **BLOODSTONE**

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
** **Bobby's House  
** **Sioux Falls, SD  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

"What do you mean you're going to Chicago?" I asked Sam urgently, my voice barely a whisper as we spoke in the kitchen over donuts and coffee. "I need you here!"

"I can't do this, Beth, I need… we all need a break. I have to get away, I can't, I can't act like nothing happened two days ago…. _._ do you …" Sam stopped, catching himself.

I stared him down, a combination of sorrow and understanding in my eyes. Of course I knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. I'd lost Dean once, and I was losing him again.

"Why Chicago?" I asked, relenting a little. I didn't like seeing him go off alone, it felt too exposed with Lucifer running around.

"I have my reasons, okay?" Sam hedged.

"You're going to have to give me more than that to let you go," I persisted. Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair, pushing it back. It had been getting longer and longer, and I found myself wishing for the days where we were kids again, when life seemed so much simpler.

"You can't stop me, Beth," he pointed out. "You have enough on your plate." He glanced sideways into the library where Dean was sitting on the couch. He had his eyes closed, head leaning against the back of the couch. I wasn't sure, but he could have been asleep, it had been so hard to tell these days.

"That's exactly why I need you here, I can't protect you if you're off on a road trip," I whispered furiously.

"I don't need you to protect me!"

"You said we wouldn't split up!"

"When we're hunting… when we're dealing with Lucifer, Beth. But that's not what we're doing right now. Lucifer is in the wind. No one knows where he is, we have _no leads."_ Sam replied, his eyes imploring me to see it from his perspective. He needed to get away, he was telling me that, seeing Dean practically catatonic was driving him insane.

"I need this Beth. There's someone I gotta see…"

"Who? Who do you have to see Sam?"

"It's… I just have to, okay?" Sam turned that puppy dog look on me, the one that worked so well when he was trying to get something out of someone. I felt my heart melt at the sight of it, and scowled.

"Don't pull that look on me Samuel Winchester, I know what you're doing," I countered, shaking my index finger at him like I was an angry mother.

Sam grinned at me. "Is it working?" He asked, leaning his head to the side, the last nail in the coffin.

I sighed, pushing my hair behind my ears, dropping my mug into the sink next to me. "Okay, fine. But what am I supposed to do about Dean?" I asked.

Sam shrugged his shoulders, backing toward the doorway and picking up his pack. "I don't know Beth, I wish I did." He paused, looking toward the library and then back at me. "Maybe… maybe ask yourself, what would Dad do?"

* * *

 _ **Searcy, AK  
14 Years Ago**_

 _ **Entry from John's Journal**_

"Four weeks. If I thought raising two boys into hunting was a difficult thing, it has nothing on what it's like to bring a daughter, almost fully grown, into it. Patrick never wanted this for Beth, but he's not here now. I can't help but think how different things might have been if she'd been aware of what is out there. Would she have worn that amulet? Would she have paid more attention, like Dean does, and looked deeper than the surface? I can't ask these questions, all I know is I am glad that the boys know how to protect themselves. Even if something happens to me, I know they have a fighting chance. That's all I'm trying to give Beth now - a fighting chance at moving past the horrors she's just been through. If I have to be drill sergeant to do that, I will."

 _ **Searcy, AK  
14 Years Ago**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _Blood._

 _So much blood._

 _Just when I thought I had gotten it out, there it was again, like the damned spot on Lady MacBeth's guilty hands._

 _I was in the bathroom again. We'd been to at least five different motels in the time since we fled Wisconsin. John wanted to make sure that we put enough distance between who I used to be… and who I was now._

 _The tiles in this bathroom were old and worn, not unlike most of the places we'd stayed so far. These ones had caught my attention as soon as we'd arrived three hours earlier. They were blue, like the bathroom … at home._

 _It wasn't home anymore, it was nothing._

 _Out… damned spot. Out._

 _I took the washcloth and scrubbed at my hands. I knew they were clean, I_ knew it. _But I still couldn't stop._

 _So much blood._

 _The door opened to the bathroom, but I didn't look up. I felt the tears, anger, shame, despair wash down my face as I continued to scrub, my skin starting to feel raw._

 _After a moment I heard Sam calling out for Dean. It was always him they sent. John had tried, so hard, to understand what I was going through. But he'd stopped trying in these moments._

 _I wanted to stop. I needed to be strong, to prove myself to John._

 _I. Must. Stop._

" _Beth." His voice was like smooth honey, a balm for my aching soul. Still I scrubbed._

" _I can't," I said, shaking my head at Dean as the water ran over my fingertips. "It's still there."_

" _No it's not," he said softly, and like he always did, he reached out to take my hands in one of his. I stilled, and he turned off the water with the other hand, grabbing the handtowel from the rack on the wall._

 _I sniffed back tears, refusing to look at him as he delicately dried my hands. The stark white colour of the towel highlighted the redness of my skin, and I bit down on my lip, struggling not to cry further._

" _It's okay," he said, seeing me struggle. Within seconds he had pulled me in against him, his arms wrapping around my shoulders and holding me to his chest. I tucked my face into his shoulder, my hands gripping his back so fiercely as I let the sobs come. I shook violently as a week of repressed emotion escaped me._

" _I'm trying…" I whimpered into his t-shirt, squeezing him tighter, and feeling his arms respond in kind._

" _It's okay," he said, "I know. You're doing fine. You're going to be fine."_

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Sioux Falls, SD  
Bobby's House**_

 **Beth's POV  
**

It had been six days since Sam had left. There was no improvement.

I'd packed the car. Bobby was sitting in his wheelchair in the library, watching me as I prepared for the next stage of trying to snap Dean back into this world.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing," he commented as I picked up my jacket and sshrugged into it, flipping my hair over the top. I paused, looking at him and sharing a moment of concern. He didn't like that I was leaving, any more than I had protested over Sam going to Chicago.

But this was the only way.

Sam's suggestion, asking me what John would do, made me pull out the old journal of his from the wardrobe upstairs. I'd flipped through the old, familiar pages and contemplated what it was going to take to break through to Dean.

It hurt to see how bad I'd been after my father had been murdered by my own hand, courtesy of the demon … of _Ruby…_ inhabiting me. I shuddered, trying to shake the desperation clawing at my chest from getting a foothold.

 _Train. Fight. Keep moving._

It was the only option I could think of. And it had to be done on the road, somewhere new. Too many memories in this house left us stuck in the past. We needed a fresh start to focus our attention. I'd gotten a call from one of John's old hunting buddies - he wanted our help, he needed us to come to Oklahoma.

Dean wasn't ready… hell, he was barely mobile. For the last week he'd sat, downing beer after beer as he watched the TV, taking in the ramifications of our failure. Tornadoes, freak snow storms, floods and earthquakes along the coast….and now I was thinking of taking us, unprepared, into the heart of tornado country.

"We can't turn our back on Martin," I said. "If I have to go in there alone, I will."

"That doesn't sound smart," Bobby replied.

"Since when do we do smart, Bobby?" I asked, sinking down on the couch. Dean was upstairs in bed, I'd sent him there last night, and he hadn't come down since. "This is the only way I know how to get through to him. I'm going to take him to Stillwater. He saw me through some of the worst times of my life while we were there. And I'm going to get him through this."

Bobby looked skeptically at me, and I threw him a determined look. "I _will not_ let this be his Albuquerque, I won't!"

It was a calculated move, bringing up Martin and the hunt that had been his final straw, but it worked. Bobby's face softened, and he nodded slowly.

"If anyone can, you will," Bobby said. "But I want you to be careful. And if you can't get through to him, call Sam in to back you up on Martin's case."

I looked into his eyes, seeing the fear and the worry. I sucked in a breath and nodded curtly. "Okay."

Footsteps sounded behind me in the archway leading into the library. I turned to see Dean standing there, looking at me without an ounce of emotion.

"I'm leaving," I said. I saw the briefest flicker of concern, _something,_ behind those eyes. He was in there, it was time. "You're coming with me."

Dean shook his head, eyes following me as I crossed the room. "I can't," he said after a moment.

"Yes," I countered, reaching up to place a hand against his cheek. "You can. You have to."

He let out a sigh and leaned into my palm, closing his eyes.

"Come on, soldier," I said, seeing his eyes open quickly. "Let's go."

He glanced past me to Bobby, taking in both me and the man who was sitting silently, watching us. Dean wavered, a hesitant glance from Bobby to me.

"Get in the car," I said shortly.

He frowned, shaking his head.

"It wasn't a request, Dean," I pointed out, moving beside him. "I said, _get in the car."_

When he didn't move, I pushed him toward the door. He responded, swinging around and throwing a half-hearted punch at me. I blocked it mid-air, holding his wrist and then pulled him in against me, our mouths mere inches apart.

"You want a fight?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. "Good. It's a damn sight better than what you've been doing the last week."

Dean scowled at me, and shoved, hard. "Leave me alone, Beth."

"Dean!" Bobby growled at him, but fell silent when I held my hand up to him, gesturing for him to let me handle it. He scowled, and shook his head, rolling his chair across the room and out toward the back of the house.

"No," I said, moving to follow Dean as he headed toward the kitchen, the fridge.

As he grabbed a beer, I took it out of his hand and threw it in the sink, hearing the glass shatter against the porcelain.

"Hey!" He complained, a hand coming up to grab me around the throat. "I need that."

"No, you don't Dean," I said, gripping his wrist tightly, staring at him while I swallowed against his fingers. "You need to get out of this house, and stop wallowing. You think Ellen and Jo would want to see you like this?"

Dean released me, his chest heaving with the effort of trying to restrain himself. "You don't say that to me."

"I'll say what I need to, and you listen good Dean Winchester. This… _this_ is _not_ the end for us. You don't get to sit down and give up, not on my watch." I stopped, looking at him. His shoulders slumped in front of me, and he shook his head.

"I'm going with or without you," I pushed. Hoping that the idea of me leaving, alone, was enough of a terrifying thought to stir him to action.

"No, you're not going anywhere," he replied, bristling. Ah! There was that spark I was looking for.

"No?" I asked, crossing my arms. "What are you going to do, Dean? Lock me in the panic room?"

Dean's eyes flicked toward the basement and I could see him considering it. "Don't tempt me."

I sighed heavily, appealing to whatever was left of the fighter inside him. "What do you want me to do, huh? Sit around and wait for the end of the world? Take up knitting while Lucifer has a freaking bloodthirsty parade down Rodeo Drive? I don't think so."

"Sam wants to go wandering off, doing god knows what, fine," Dean countered. "But you, me? We're a _team."_

"Then start acting like it!" I snapped, seeing the hurt flash in his eyes. I softened instantly, moving to touch his arm. He was stiff at first, and then he sighed - almost imperceptibly, but it was something. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed tight, letting him feel my body against his even as he stood with his arms hanging at the side, unrelenting.

"Dean, please. I need you," I said softly. When he didn't argue, I pulled back and looked deep in his eyes.

"Come on," I said, taking his hand. Just as he had so many years ago when I couldn't get moving. "Let's go."

I tugged, feeling the resistance, but I simply pulled harder. With a heavy footstep, he started to move, and we passed out of the house on to the deck.

The Impala was at the door, packed, ready for us to get back on the road again. I'd given it a wash yesterday, shining and polishing her until she gleamed in the sunlight. Dean had ignored the whole thing, staying indoors. I paused and ran my eyes along his weary face, hoping for something, anything to tell me I was on the right track.

The wait seemed forever, but after a few seconds his face seemed to take on a more determined look. As if he was remembering all those times we'd spent in the car, driving, going new places, hunting. He nodded to himself and then went to get in the passenger seat.

Disappointment settled on my chest like a dark rain cloud, seeing him not take the wheel. Okay, so it had been a bit foolish to think he was going to revert to the same old Dean just by seeing his beloved car. But I'd hoped it would be that easy. Still, he was in the car, out of the house. There was a tiny bit of silver lining to that rain cloud.

"Baby steps, Beth," I muttered to myself. "Baby steps. Just get him moving."

* * *

 _ **14 years ago  
Stillwater, OK  
**_ _ **Motel**_

 **Beth's POV**

It _was so much easier to stay in the dark. I turned my head away from the sunlight streaming through yet another motel room, eyes tightening against it's bright start to the day._

 _Sam was already up, gone to the library to get a break from John and Dean. I could hear them moving around in the room. John was cleaning guns, talking about starting weapons training with me. Dean was voicing his doubt on whether it was too soon for that._

" _Ready or not, she has to learn to fight," John said, and there was a pause. Were they watching me? I lay still, pretending to be asleep._

" _It's been six weeks, Dad," Dean said._

" _It took me just as long to start getting my head into this when your mother was taken from us," John replied. "She has to get up, Dean. Or she never will."_

 _Dean sighed. I listened as he silently took John's unspoken order, and walked over to me. A shiver ran down my back, I could feel his gaze on me, watching and contemplating._

" _Get her up," John repeated._

 _Dean's warm hand came out to shake my shoulder and I sighed, rolling on to my back._

" _Knew you were awake," he smirked, his eyes twinkling at me._

" _So?" I asked, and I rolled away from him again, pulling the pillow over my head._

 _It was the same dance we'd been doing for a few days now, John had been patient with me, not forcing the issue. I think he didn't really know what to do with a girl. If I'd been Dean, or Sam, he'd be yelling, giving orders. But I was… new._

 _Everything was new._

 _Nothing stayed the same with John. We were always on the move from one town to another. I missed my home, I missed going to school and seeing my friends. I never thought I'd say that about school. Most of all, I missed my gentle Dad - the way he would cheerfully wake me up in the mornings, always in an infectiously good mood._

 _No one was happy with John. I was starting to regret begging for him to take me with him. My only respite was Dean and Sam, the way they treated me like I was one of their own, so protective. Sam's humour and wisecracks reminded me of having my Dad next to me. Dean… well, he was Dean._

 _I felt guilty I was giving him a hard time. He'd been unwavering in his support, and he stood up for me with John when he could. But I could see the toll it was taking on him, the hard looks John gave him every time he failed to get me moving._

 _The guilt alone almost made me turn around. Most days it did. But not today. How could I get up today? It was… Saturday, again. The sixth Saturday since my Dad died. I hadn't seen a grave, I didn't get to say my goodbyes, I was just… gone. Displaced. Out of time and out of hope._

 _I heard John get up and walk into the bathroom, and almost right away the sound of running water._

" _Come on Beth…" Dean said, shaking me again. "You have to get up."_

" _Move," John's voice was right behind me, and I heard Dean step aside. The next I knew the covers had been thrown back. I frowned, turning to look over my shoulder, at the same time I was hoisted out of bed._

" _Huh?"_

" _Sorry baby girl, but enough is enough," John whispered, balancing me in his arms, and carting me into the bathroom. There was a fine mist from the warm water in the shower rising up to the ceiling, an old droning fan trying hard to suck it out, but failing._

" _Wait, what…?"_

 _My voice trailed off as John unceremoniously dumped me in the small bath, the shower head pelting water down on me, clothes and all._

" _Hey?!" I spluttered. My hair started sticking to my face, and I brushed it out of my eyes glaring up at the man standing over me, his expression a mixture of frustration and … something else I couldn't place. I wasn't used to be tossed around like a ragdoll - my Dad had never pushed me around in his life! This was new to me, and I didn't like it._

" _This is for your own good, Elizabeth. You can't sit and wallow, you need to move, and keep moving. It's the only way. What's done is done, we can't change it, but we can affect the future. I will not let this thing, that creature, take you from us too." John's form was imposing - I tried not to give in to the hopelessness that I was feeling, but it was rushing to the surface with every little thought._

You're not my dad! _I didn't say it, I didn't want to risk that I'd push him so far as to dump me at the next bus stop, and abandon me forever. But he wasn't. My Dad would never have done this to me…. He would have hugged me, and told me I was going to get through this. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I wrapped my arms around my knees, biting my lip. But he was gone._

 _Inside of me, all the pain and heartache from the day washed over me, as surely as the water was pounding down over my body right now. I buried my face against my knees, trying to hold back the sobs, and failing._

 _A darkness was moving in my heart, wanting to drown me, and I couldn't help but wonder if that would just be easier._

 _John sighed, and left the bathroom, the door closing firmly behind him. I cried fully then, unable to move._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Stillwater, OK  
Motel**_

 **Beth's POV**

We'd only been through Stillwater a handful of times in the fourteen years since I'd first joined the Winchester family. Even then it was only driving through, not stopped like the first time. It seemed to me that not much had changed in all those years.

The same mom and pop diner on the corner stood, still advertising the county's best pie, just as it had then. The shop fronts seemed a little more modernised, and a brand new Biggerson's was at the end of the main drag, but in my eyes, it was the same little town where Dean had brought me back to life.

I glanced over at him, hoping to see some flicker of recognition in his face. I made a point of checking us into the same motel we'd stayed in that fateful week. Maybe it would remind him of what he'd done for me. But he wasn't giving anything away.

"Come on," I said gently, opening the passenger door and inclining my head toward the motel room. "Here it is."

I turned and opened up the door, flinging it open. For a moment I was transported back in time. Not much had changed. With the flip of the light switch I noticed new bed linens, and a recovered couch, but the decor was the same monotonous brown - tired and worn, chips in the edges of the night stands, scratches along the counter against one wall, and the same tired wallpaper starting to fade. .

The electronics had been upgraded, a new television to go with the times, and a remote on the nightstand by the bed. It wasn't the same room we'd stayed in, but it could have been cut from the same mold.

Dean pushed past me and flopped down on a bed, leaning against the headboard and grabbing the remote. The TV blared to life, and he started channel surfing while I watched him quietly. This was not going to be easy, and I was starting to feel the pressure of Martin's call for help weighing down on me.

 _One step at a time._

John's words were never far from my head. His wisdom and training drilled into us day and night. It wasn't until I was lost that I started to see the gift he'd given us. Even if it had killed us to obey at the time. I forced back the sad ache in my chest as I thought about how he was gone from us, just like Ellen and Jo were. Spinning on my heel, I went to the car and grabbed our bags, before kicking the room door closed again.

"You know, you really could use a shower," I commented.

Dean grunted.

"I could really use a beer," he replied and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Tough," I said. "You're not getting any until you start resembling something more like the man I married."

Dean laughed, shaking his head and tossing the remote on the bed next to him.

"You forget, Beth," he said, standing up and coming to stand in front of me. "I was a broken man the day we got married."

"You still had some fight in you, there was still blood to get out of that stone," I replied.

"Pointless blood. Look at everything that happened…" he said, frowning.

"Dean, I know it isn't easy…" I said, sucking in a breath. "You think I'm not hurting? You think I don't wish we could go back and change what happened?" He didn't move, his face unresponsive. "We can't, if you taught me anything, it's that we have to move forward. We can't give in to wallowing."

"That was Dad, not me," he said, a bitterness to his tone.

"You didn't let me give up," I pushed. "He might have pushed me… but you held me the whole way."

"What are you doing, Beth? Huh?" He asked, shaking his head, a wry smile on his face. "You think a trip down memory lane is going to fix things? You think it's going to magically make it all better?"

I sighed, reaching out and squeezing his biceps with my hands. "No," I said. "I was hoping it might help you remember that we're a team, and…. And I've got you, Dean. Now. All you have to do is let me in."

For a moment he wavered, eyes looking forlornly at me, the sorrow and heartache from the past week weighing heavily in those green orbs. "I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "But you're wrong."

Pushing me aside, he left the room, closing the door behind him. Sinking on to the bed I let out a long, slow breath and flopped back against the mattress. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 _ **Stillwater, OK  
14 years ago  
Motel Bathroom**_

 **Dean's POV**

 _I think the only person more surprised than Beth, was me, when Dad dumped her in the shower and walked out. I had never seen him like that. His annoyance, and frustration was coming off him in waves. I had never seen him at a loss for how to deal with someone before. But Beth wasn't just anyone, and I knew that he had grown to care about her like he did me or Sam._

 _Beth's sobs were muffled from the closed door, and I hesitated, standing in the middle of the motel room my gaze going from the bathroom door, to Dad who was gathering up his jacket and car keys._

" _Dean, you have to deal with this," he said, waving his hand in the air. "Before I say something I shouldn't."_

 _I gulped, nodding at him with wide eyes. As soon as he left I was at the bathroom. I knocked three times, and then turned the handle. Beth didn't respond, but her sobs subsided into sniffles as I poked my head around the door to look at her._

 _She was sitting, still fully dressed, under the showerhead as its water pounded down over her, soaking every inch of fabric and skin. When she saw me, she wiped at her face and sat up a little, and I could see her shaking. It wasn't a cold shower based on the steam in the room, so I knew it wasn't the temperature. She was simply exhausted, and fragile._

 _I stepped inside and closed the door again, reaching for a towel._

" _Come on," I said gently, moving to squat next to her. "Let's get you dry."_

 _She sniffed back a couple of tears and nodded, putting her hand out to me. I grabbed it, and stood up. Once I had my balance, I nodded at her. "Ready? One...two... threeee…" I pulled as she got her feet under her, waiting for her to balance before I reached behind and turned off the tap._

 _As I did that, I was acutely aware how close I was to the dripping girl, she was like a drowned cat rescued from a roaring river. I smiled encouragingly at her as her teeth started to chatter._

" _Okay, let's… uh. Well, we need to get you out of … those…" I gestured at the wet t-shirt and shorts she had on, soaked and clinging to her skin. Every inch of her body was accentuated by it. I frowned, reminding myself not to look at her like that…. This wasn't another girl at school, or at the pool hall!_

 _As Beth stepped out of the tub, I saw her legs waver slightly and then she suddenly collapsed in my arms._

" _Whoa!" I said, guiding her to the toilet and slamming the lid shut before seating her on it. "Hey, whoa, what's going on with you?"_

 _Beth shook her head, wrapping her arms around her body. "I don't know. I'm just so…._

 _tired. I can't move, Dean."_

 _Shock? Maybe. Fatigue, definitely. I started to think about the last time we'd eaten… Beth had picked at her food, not really consuming anything._

" _How long has it been since you've eaten?" I asked, frowning at her. Beth shrugged, dropping her head down where she covered her face with her hands._

" _Jesus…" I cursed. I had to get some food into her._

" _Okay, we're going to get you dressed, and then… we're getting burgers."_

 _Beth didn't resist as I reached over her shoulders and started to pull on the hem of her shirt, peeling it away from her skin. It wasn't until I'd gotten it over her head that I realised my mistake. She was still in pyjamas… and as the t-shirt pulled away I caught an eyeful of two small, perky breasts, the nipples hard from the cold air of the room._

" _Ah!" I looked up instantly, feeling myself responding even though I didn't want to. I wasn't supposed to look at her this way! "Uh, here," I added, holding out the towel in front of me, covering her. Beth didn't respond, and when I looked down she was rocking quietly, biting on her lip._

" _Okay," I muttered, looking anywhere but there. "You need to try and help me a little, Beth." I wrapped the towel around her from the front, tucking it in at the side. Modesty achieved, I let out a breath. Step one._

 _Grabbing another towel from the rack, I knelt down and started to rub at her bare legs, chuckling a little at the fine hairs that were growing there because she hadn't bothered to shave in a while. But the smile disappeared almost as quickly as it came, not taking care of herself like that, and not eating, was a sign that things were way worse than I had realised._

 _As I moved my hand, slowly, concentrating on the way the other towel ended just above her knees, I hesitated to go higher, my hand, wrapped in the towel I was using to dry her body, pausing on her inner thigh._

 _Glancing up, I saw her watching me, eyes as deep and dark as hot chocolate. Jesus!_

" _You uh, you do this part, I'm going to get some clothes for you," I said, dropping the towel in her lap and standing up, almost racing out of the room._

 _On the other side of the door, I adjusted my boxers, feeling the instinctual reaction of myself hardening to what I'd just been doing. Shit! Think of anything else… think of old Mrs Harrison and how she liked to cut her toenails while watching Soap Operas… she would let the nails fall into the carpet and… Ah! Better. I felt myself soften, and then opened Beth's bag, pulling out a random pair of jeans, some underwear and a t-shirt._

 _I hurried back to the bathroom; Beth hadn't moved._

" _Come on," I said, trying to muster a smile. "Work with me here."_

" _I can't."_

" _Yeah, you can, Beth," I replied, keeping my tone firm but not harsh. "Let's just get you dressed, huh? Baby steps."_

 _Beth shrugged and sat back a little._

" _You're… not… going to make this easy on me, huh?"_

 _I got a tiny little smile out of her then. Fleeting. She was testing me, seeing how determined I was to go through with getting her out of bed and to that diner. I raised an eyebrow at her, the corner of my mouth curling up slightly._

" _Okay, fine. I'll dress you myself," I said with a grin._

 _She stilled her face, nothing giving away her thoughts. I hesitated, but then recalled Dad's tone of voice. Do something!_

 _Okay then._

 _I dropped the other things on the vanity, and grabbed her bra first. It wouldn't be the first time I'd taken a bra off a girl… but putting one on was a new thing. I felt myself starting to stir in my pants again and took a deep breath. Baby steps, baby steps. Mrs Hamilton's toenails… Okay._

 _I shook my head, seeing her chest rising from each breath she took. Dammit. I slipped the straps over her arms and up to her shoulders, then looked at the towel covering her breasts._

 _She was really going to go through with this, wasn't she?_

" _I'm not phased by this sugarpie,' I muttered, crouching in front of her. "Either you do this, or I will."_

 _Our eyes met, and there was a challenge there. One I instantly rose to meet. It wasn't about whether or not I was attracted to her now. This was war. This was her vs. me, and I had to win. Because if I didn't…. I'd lose her. It almost physically hurt to even think about the possibility._

" _Okay! Hey, here we go," I said. She doesn't think I'll do it._

 _I reached out, almost as quickly as Dad had scooped her out of bed and put her into the shower. Tugging the towel down, I held my breath and put the fabric in place, right over her breasts, covering the little pink nipples and then I straightened up, leaning over her and clipping it up at the back. I grabbed the t-shirt equally as fast, and pulled it over her head, guiding her arms into place as she groaned in protest._

" _I told you…" I said with a grin._

 _That done, I pulled her to a standing position and knelt. The towel fell to the floor, but the t-shirt was, thankfully, long enough to cover down there. I gazed up at her, she raised an eyebrow at me and I cleared my throat, taking her knickers and putting them on the floor, lifting her feet and putting them in the holes until I could pull the soft cotton fabric up. As I got to her groin, I tugged the fabric slightly, and she opened her legs so that the item fell into place. Then I repeated the procedure with her jeans._

 _By the time I was buttoning them up, I was grinning, pleased that I'd gotten through the ordeal without once experiencing a full on hard-on, and knowing that for this round… I'd won. Best not tell Dad about this part though._

 _I stood up, tossing her my most disarming smile, and she rolled her eyes at me though was unable to hide a smile._

" _Happy?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest._

" _Yep," I said with another grin, taking the towel and turning her around to face away from me as I rubbed at her long tresses. "You're hard work you know?"_

" _Why do you bother?" She asked, her shoulders rising as she took a deep breath._

 _I sighed, stepping in to her and wrapping my arms around hers, squeezing her._

" _Because I like having you around, sugarpie," I said into her ear. It was the simple truth. "And I don't want to lose that because you can't keep up with the old man."_

 _Beth sighed, leaning back against me._

" _Thanks," she said softly, turning to look at where I'd laid my chin on her shoulder._

" _Anytime," I smiled at her. "Come on. I'm starving!"_

 _She took a minute to quickly plait her wet hair, and then turned to look at me, conflict swirling in her face._

" _What?" I asked._

" _What if I can't?"_

" _You've barely even tried," I persisted, taking her hands in mine. "Look, I know it's hard, Beth. You've… you've lost everything. But I promise, I swear to you that if you give me your all, I'll be here, every step of the way."_

 _She looked down at our joined hands and nodded slowly, as if reaching some kind of decision._

" _But you gotta work with me… we're a team now. You, me, we need to be strong so we can look after Sammy." It was the only thing I could think of to get her head in the game. It was what drove me, night and day, and fueled me to be better with each training session. Knowing what was out there, the things that could take us down._

 _I had failed Dad so many times when I was younger, like the night the Shtriga nearly killed Sam because I had dropped the ball and left him alone. I would never do that again. I felt the same way about Beth now._

 _Beth looked up, startled. "You… you want me to help you look after Sam?"_

" _Of course," I said with a smile. "Two of us will be better than one, right?" In fact, she made my days better, even the hard days like this. She gave me another purpose for living._

" _Right," she replied, and then she nodded. "You've got a deal. I'm here for you."_

 _I grinned, stepping beside her and wrapping my arm around her, guiding her out into the motel room. "Good."_

" _I can't believe you actually dressed me." She said, chuckling to herself. She glanced sideways at me, a teasing look in her way-too-young eyes. My breath caught. She wasn't as innocent as she appeared. I found myself wondering whether she'd…. what … who… if? I stopped my mind, pulling back to the moment._

" _Whatever it takes to get you moving, sugarpie," I said, grinning at her. "Just don't tell Dad, he would hit the roof, even though it was entirely innocent!"_

 _Was it innocent? I told myself it was, just some play to get her moving. But deep down… I knew better._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Stillwater, OK  
Motel**_

 **Beth's POV**

I was starting to worry that I'd truly lost him when, after an hour, Dean walked back into the motel room carrying a bag of burgers and a six pack of beer. He put the beer into the fridge and then turned to take a burger out, silently holding it out to me.

If I'd thought it would do anything to get through to him, I would have told him to shove it, but I was quickly learning that I couldn't fight fire with fire on this one. I reached out from where I was sitting on the bed, and took the burger, nodding my thanks.

There was nothing to say anymore. I felt so tired, exhausted with what I'd done so far, and the driving from South Dakota. I wanted to rest. More than anything. I knew what that felt like - defeat, despair, losing the will to fight. I knew how easy it was to give in to the darkness, lie down, and never get up.

I wouldn't let Dean sink into that!

Pulling back the wrapper, I practically drooled at the double cheeseburger, leaning over the paper and taking a huge bite. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually eaten, and while I couldn't speak to him, I was grateful that Dean had thought to bring food back for me. It felt like I was maybe getting somewhere.

I had our favourite Spanish Soap on the TV, and I chewed thoughtfully, listening to the virtual drama unfold while Dean moved around the room - shrugging out of his overshirt, kicking off his shoes, grabbing two burgers and a beer before settling next to me on the bed.

At least he'd sat on the same bed. I didn't know what I'd do, say or feel if he'd chosen the empty bed next to us. It was one thing I could at least say about his reaction to Ellen and Jo's deaths. He hadn't stopped wanting to be around me, even if he didn't respond to anything I had to say, for now.

Just the same, I was starting to feel overcome with emotion. Fatigue weighed on me, and I just wanted my husband back. Normal. I inched closer to him on the bed after I finished the burger. He was well into his second, his hand resting comfortably on his thigh while he held the burger in his left hand. As I pressed my leg against his, I felt his attention shift from the TV to me, though his eyes remained forward.

I lay my head against his shoulder, sighing, and thought… just for a moment, that he responded with a sigh of his own. His arm moved up and around me, gathering me closer as I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry. He was responding… baby steps, dammit, baby steps. I leaned into him and felt his body soften to receive me.

It reminded me of simpler times, caught up in his tender embrace when it was him trying to comfort me, and not the other way around.

* * *

 _ **14 Years Ago  
Stillwater, OK  
Diner**_

 **Dean's POV**

 _We were back to all business once we left the motel. I could almost imagine Dad's look of relief when he got back and we were gone. Beth seemed to be wearing him down - he didn't know what to do with her. I couldn't help but think that we were going about this all wrong._

 _Yes, she had to train if she was going to fight. But, she was… well she was a girl… they didn't react to things the same way - did they? The few girls I'd spent any time with were all into their hair, make-up, fashion and nails. Beth wasn't like them, not by any stretch of the imagination. But that didn't mean she hadn't been at one stage._

" _Tell me about your friends," I said as we climbed into a booth at the local burger joint and waited for our waitress to bring the menu._

" _I don't have any friends," she replied, looking down at her hands._

" _Well, maybe not right now, but you did, right?"_

 _Beth hesitated, and I thought I'd said the wrong thing as she wavered between holding it together, and bursting into tears. She took a few deep breaths and then nodded, her shoulders moving up and down in a shrug._

" _They were like most kids, I guess. Into football, and all the usual things. We liked going to the movies, and ice skating,"_

" _Ice skating?" I asked, my interest piqued._

" _Yeah, there was this lake further up North, my Dad had a friend with a hunting lodge right on it. In the Winter it would freeze, and I'd get to bring a couple of friends up there during Winter break." She smiled, just a little, her eyes taking on that far away look of someone recalling events in the past._

 _The waitress walked up to us, handing over a couple of menus and then looking at us. "Can I get you a drink to start?"_

" _Uh, I know what I want," I said, smiling at her. "You need another minute Beth?"_

 _Beth shook her head negatively, not even looking at the menu._

" _I'll have a burger with everything," I said, quickly scanning the appetisers. "And can we get some curly fries too?"_

 _The waitress nodded and then looked at Beth expectantly._

" _I'll have the same, just… no onions," she said, shrugging at me. "I hate onions."_

" _And a couple of cokes, please," I added._

" _Coming right up," the waitress said with a smile, wandering back to the front counter. I watched her go for a moment, trying to imagine what it must be like to stay in one place, work the same job day in and day out. It gave me the heebie jeebies. I shrugged it off, and returned to the conversation I'd been having with Beth._

" _Next time we're in a town with a rink, we should go," I suggested. I found myself wanting more and more to please this girl, just make her smile, keep her happy, whatever it took._

 _Beth smiled and nodded, replying, "yeah, I'd like that."_

 _We sat in silence for a moment, looking out the window at the people passing by._

" _You ever play that game, where you make up stories about people?" She asked suddenly, leaning slightly forward._

" _Oh, you mean…" I glanced around the diner, looking at the people at other tables and spotting my target. "Like that guy?" I pointed to an older man, probably in his late 40's. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, black dress pants and a white shirt and simple grey tie. It was his hair that made me curious, slicked back like some kind of greaser. "Mafia. He's a got a 45 beretta tucked under that jacket in a holster that no one else can see. He has to dress nicely because he's sleeping with the mob boss' wife, but the boss don't know that." I looked over at her, grinning._

" _Ah, yes, in fact," Beth paused as the waitress walked by and deposited our drinks and then left. "He's in love with the boss' wife, BUT he's been betrothed to their daughter, a simple girl, with a heart of gold… nothing like he's into. He prefers his women scandalous and a little naughty."_

 _I laughed, nodding at her pick up on the story, leaning forward a little. "He's having breakfast now, but then he'll pick up two coffees to go. Black, strong, just like he likes it. The other will be white with sugar, sweetness for his love. They're about to go jump on a plane…a working holiday to Columbia… where he will be guarding the boss' wife while he's away conducting business. You know what that means…"_

" _Sex," Beth said, blushing a little and glancing at me. "I wonder if they'll get caught?"_

" _He's too sneaky for that, look at that hairdo, this is a man who knows what he's doing," I continued._

" _But, as much as he wants to spend all this time with his love…" Beth's voice paused as the man across the room took a call on his cellphone. "That's actually his REAL boss…" Beth added. "They are starting to wonder what's taking so long, why they haven't gotten any evidence to put this man behind bars yet."_

" _Ah, because he's actually DEA!" I chimed in, seeing Beth nod and smile._

" _He didn't expect to fall in love with his target's wife, and now he's torn. Does he betray her husband, thus releasing her from a loveless marriage, yet run the risk of destroying her trust and lose her forever. Or does he turn his back on his job, the one thing that gives him meaning?" She finished._

 _I leaned back, chuckling as our burgers and fries were deposited in front of us, the waitress making a point of checking that Beth's was the one without onions._

 _I took a bite of my burger and groaned with pleasure, getting a smile from the waitress before she checked if there was anything else we needed. Alone again, we fell into a comfortable silence while we ate._

 _After a moment, Beth put down her burger and met my eyes with a troubled look._

" _What's wrong?" I asked around a mouthful of burger._

" _How do you do it?" She asked._

" _Do what?"_

" _Keep going. After everything," she said, sighing heavily. "Your mom… having to look after Sam. Now me. How do you get up in the morning?"_

 _I put my burger down and reached across to take one of her hands in mine, squeezing lightly._

" _I do it for Sam. I do it for_ you, _Beth," I said honestly._

" _Why?"_

" _Because… it's my job," I replied, seeing her bite her lower lip._

" _I'm your... job?"_

 _Oops. That didn't sound good._

" _And I want to." That perked her up a little more. "You're not just a job to me, that came out wrong, but this…" I waved my free hand around the room. "All of this is kept safe, free of monsters, because of what Dad does, of what he's teaching us to do. It's important Beth."_

" _I just… I don't know how to let go of the pain," she whispered, tears threatening to spill again._

" _You just gotta shove it down," I said firmly, nodding more to myself than her. "I know it hurts, and it's still fresh in your mind. I know. But dammit you are so strong. You can do this. I believe in you."_

" _At least someone does."_

" _You talking about Dad?" I asked, frowning slightly and receiving a nod in reply._

" _He believes in you. I know he doesn't say it much. But… trust me, you wouldn't be here if he didn't think you could do this. If he didn't want you with us." I was certain of that. "So you take all that pain, you shove it right down into the pit of your stomach, and you let it fuel you, okay? Because that's what gets us through the hard times."_

 _Beth nodded slowly, looking down at our hands, squeezing lightly._

" _There will be fun again too," I promised. "We've got our whole lives ahead of us. One day, you're going to be in a place where this is a distant nightmare… and you'll laugh again."_

" _Thank you," she said quietly, taking in what I said. I nodded, letting go of her hand so I could pick up my burger again and take a bite._

 _We sat there for hours… drinking coke, munching on fries and telling stories of people passing by… eventually we ordered some pie so they wouldn't kick us out. We didn't need to fight today, she just needed to be present in the real world, to see that life goes on. Tomorrow, we would start rifle training. That would give her something to feed the fire. I had a feeling she was going to like it._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Sillwater, OK  
Motel**_

 **Beth's POV**

We'd been here three days.

"I'm sorry Martin," I said into the phone, pacing just outside the motel room. "There's been a hold up." I could hear the disappointment in Martin's voice, he started recounting how a woman, Susan, had been killed by the monster last night, her wrists then slit to make it look like a suicide. No one was following up on it, everyone thought she had wanted to die, but that wasn't what a couple of other patients were saying.

"I'll… we'll be there as soon as we can, okay?" I listened to his question about sending Sam instead and sighed. "No, he's across the other side of the country right now." I listened to Martin express his concerns a little longer. "Martin, it's gonna be okay, we'll… we'll be finished up on this other job by tomorrow." He thanked me profusely and then said he had to go.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," I said, hanging up the phone and turning around.

Dean was standing in the doorway, having opened it a crack when I wasn't paying attention.

"You're getting rusty," he commented, when I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I knew you were there," I lied, lifting my chin.

"Now that, I almost believe," he said with a smirk, leaning against the door jamb and crossing his arms. "You lying to Martin too?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, my heartbeat starting to race with anxiety. "I'd really rather not," I said.

"I'm not ready," he said shortly. "Beth…"

"Well, _when are we ever ready?"_ I cut in. "We've had so much go down in the last few years, I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes. But I need to keep moving, just like you taught me. Just like Dad made us."

"Yeah, well, what if I can't?"

"Don't say that," I said, crossing to him and placing my hands against his face.

"What if I… really _can't_?"

I saw the doubt in her eyes, the fear. It stopped me short.

 _What was I doing?_

How the hell was turning into Dad going to fix this? Sam was wrong, this wasn't the way forward. Maybe it had worked with fifteen year old me, because we hadn't had a choice. But… what if there was a different way? I took a deep breath and pivoted my perspective.

If I was being honest, maybe this was exactly what I wanted… maybe it was what we both needed.

"Okay, you're right. You're right. If you can't… well then you can't. Everyone has their breaking points, right? I mean, look at Martin - he's been in that mental hospital for how long now? We don't want to end up there, we have control of that, we can just… stop."

As soon as I said it, a feeling of relief washed through me.

"We can just stop."

Dean looked at me, frowning slightly. I didn't know why, I was giving him what he wanted.

"Just like that," he said after a moment.

"Just like that," I nodded. "Someone else can deal with the whole end of the world crap for a change. We'll… pack up our things, right now. Get in the car and drive to Black Earth. We can just, move back into the house, let it all go. Live _our lives,_ Dean."

Dean was nodding, moving back into the room. "Okay, yeah," he said, and I thought I saw his shoulders get a little straighter. He looked like ten years had been taken off his face.

With a smile, he grabbed a towel off the end of the bed, where housekeeping had put them earlier, and headed for the bathroom. "I'm gonna grab that shower," he announced.

 _Finally!_ I thought. He so needed it.

I crawled across the mattress and leaned my body up against the headboard, smiling as he disappeared into the bathroom and water started running. I flipped on the TV, Dr Phil was on. With a groan, I turned the TV off again and lay down, staring at the ceiling.

After fifteen minutes I started to get wonder what was taking so long. The water was still running, so either he was taking an extra long shower - one he didn't normal take unless we were _both_ in there doing _other_ things - or … something was wrong.

I flipped to my feet almost instantly, hovering outside the door, hesitant to intrude. After a moment I sucked in a breath and knocked. We never knocked, but somehow… I felt like I needed to make my presence known.

Nothing.

 _Something was definitely off._

I opened the door a crack and peeped in. The room was sweltering with heat, the fan unable to keep up with the steam rising from the hot water. I stepped into the room a little further and saw Dean on his knees in the bath, his forehead pressed to the tiles, not moving as the shower beat down over his shoulders

"Dean?" I closed the door, hurriedly pulling back the shower curtain enough that I could kneel beside the bath, and touched his back with my hand. "Dean, talk to me."

He shuddered a little, his eyes opening, turning his head slightly so he could look at me.

"I love you," he said quietly, and just like every time he said it, my heart skipped a beat.

"I know," I said. "I love you too."

"Whatever we do, we do it together, right?"

"That's right," I nodded.

"So… no taking off to hunt. Not without me," he said, biting his lip.

"We're quitting," I said, "as of fifteen minutes ago…"

He nodded, turning back to stare down the drain below him. I ran my hand through his hair, pushing it back, wondering what I should do.

"I can't protect you Beth, I can't… I couldn't... " His voice broke, and I saw tears welling in his eyes which he tried to blink away.

"Oh babe…" My heart broke looking at him. I quickly stood up, stripping down to my underwear and stepped under the water with him, pulling the shower curtain back in place to save the floor. I sunk to my knees behind him, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my chest to his back. "It's okay Dean," I said into his ear. "You're safe, I'm here, you can just… let it out."

The water was hitting my back now, washing over the both of us, the hot was starting to fade, leaving us lukewarm and soon, we'd be under a cold rinse.

"I couldn't keep them alive… no one dies on my watch Beth! But now… dammit I failed, I couldn't even kill the damn Devil, it was a completely waste of time, their deaths were for nothing." His hands were shaking, his body wracked with the guilt and self-punishment he'd been putting it through.

"It wasn't your fault, Dean," I soothed. "They were hunters, they knew what they were getting into."

"It doesn't make it okay!"

"No, it doesn't, but it's _not your fault."_ I stood up, grabbing a towel from the rack and stepped on to the bathmat. "Dean, come here, please," I said, and he looked up at me, seeing my extended hand. I was hit suddenly with the reversal of our positions from so long ago. "Let me help you."

He took my hand, and I leaned back, helping him to get to his feet. He groaned softly at the soreness of his knees from having knelt on the porcelain so long without moving. Once he was out, I reached behind him and shut off the water, wrapping the towel around him.

I grabbed the other one, kneeling down to rub his legs dry, seeing that he was so completely lost in whatever he was feeling he had no sexual reaction to this at all. That's when I knew the situation was worse than it should be.

Standing again, I quickly stripped off my wet bra and undies and dried myself off, watching him carefully. Then I finished with his chest, caressing him as much as I was drying him, just trying to help him through this. He reached out, his hand coming around my waist and pulled me into him.

I slipped my arm around his waist and wriggled in closer. Dean leaned heavily into me, his chin coming to rest on my shoulder as he hugged me close. I stroked his back, feeling the tears starting to come as he finally let loose and sobbed. We stood in the hot, sweaty room, silently holding each other as years of torment, anger and despair broke free of the cage around his heart.

I wouldn't let go, I couldn't. I held him. I stayed silent through it all, just loving him.

In the end, that was all we had. It would have to be enough to get us through.

After a while his shaking body started to quieten. He sniffed back and then pulled back enough to kiss my forehead.

"Okay," he said, nodding.

"Okay?" I had no idea what he meant by that.

"Come on," he said, taking my hand and pulling me out into the motel room.

"Where are we going?"

"The park. I need to run," I gaped at him, seeing him turn to look at me, hesitating. "We keep moving, right?"

"What about Minnesota?" I asked, looking at him with concern.

"That'll come. But for now, you're right, we should go help Martin. If we don't, we're just failing another hunter. I'm not adding his name to the list." He was digging through his duffel, pulling out a pair of sweat pants, a t-shirt and tennis shoes.

There was a determination in his eyes, one that I'd seen a thousand times before. He was shoving it all down, just like he'd always done - the pain, the insecurity, and hurt. He was going to push through this the only way we knew how. By fighting.

"Are you sure?" I asked, my own change of heart not lost on me.

I had wanted to get him hunting again, back in the saddle so to speak, but after seeing him cry… holding him as he let it out… I wasn't certain it was the right course of action. I mentally cursed my unstable thoughts on the matter. I couldn't deny that the thought of just letting it all go, _giving up,_ and getting Dean just to myself… no more fighting, no more nightmares, was almost too good to be true.

"Yeah, I am sugarpie," he nodded. "We'll do it together, just like we always have." He tossed my tennis shoes at me, pulling on the last of his clothes and moving to the door as I quickly wriggled into some leggings, a bra and tank top. He stopped and waited for me to join him, reaching a hand out to cup the side of my face.

I leaned into him, lifting my face to his and felt his lips meet mine in a soft, sensual kiss. "I'm with you," I whispered, adding a smile. "I love you."

Dean pulled me into a hug, and squeezed me tight. I wondered if he was feeling as conflicted as I was. But we'd decided, and now, we had to press on. Just like John had taught us.

"Please tell me you have a plan to get us into this damn nuthouse," he said after a moment, stepping back and searching my face.

"I do," I grinned at him. "You're gonna love it."

And just like that, we were back in the game. Leaving the motel together and jogging along the sidewalk until we came to the park and a winding path that led around a small manmade lake. The sun above us seemed to melt away my cares, and I settled into a comfortable pace next to Dean as we ran.

Choice. It was really all either of us had left.

Whether or not to help Martin.

To say yes, or no, to Michael and Lucifer's war.

To stick together, or fall apart.

Choice had been all we ever had since we lost John. We were so used to him making the decisions for us, it had taken years to overcome that need to look elsewhere for solutions. We made our own now.

Today we made the choice to keep fighting, together.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

The song for this chapter is "Bloodstone" by Guy Sebastian (and very talented and amazing Australian singer. Do check out the song on Youtube!)

Coming up soon is my take on "Sam, Interrupted" - I've been having a lot of fun putting my own twist on this and inserting Beth :)

Hope you enjoyed this short piece with a look into early Dean and Beth, plus the other side of Dean we don't often get to see. Yes, he is stuffing things down, I'm keeping it as close to his personality as possible, but I just felt that seeing Dean have his doubts and fall apart a little made more sense with how my series is progressing. When Beth is weak, he is the strong one. When he is, she steps up. It's the perfect balance, and I hope shows a little more to their personalities.

Please leave a review, it's wonderful to get feedback :)


	13. Dean, Interrupted

_'Cause we've been on the run so long they can't find us  
_ _Who's gonna have to die to remind us  
_ _That it feels like we chose this blindly  
_ _Now I'm gonna fuck up a hotel lobby 'cause  
_ _These tough, times they keep coming  
_ _Last night I might have messed it up again  
_ _Some days like I'm barely breathing  
_ _And after we were high and the love dope died_

 _It was you_

 _The pill I keep taking  
_ _The nightmare I wake in  
_ _There's nothing, no nothing, nothing but you  
_ _My perfect rock bottom  
_ _My beautiful trauma  
_ _My love (my love), my love, my drug, oh_

* * *

 **DEAN, INTERRUPTED**

* * *

 **Ketchum, OK  
Dr. Fuller's Office**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

This would have to rank among one of the craziest ideas we'd ever had. Right up along with getting ourselves arrested and thrown into prison for a hunt. I had vivid… _vivid_ recollections of what a nightmare that had been. The issue hadn't been the job, that had been fairly straight forward in the end, no it had been the fact that a tonne of cement and guarded prison cells had meant I was nowhere near Beth.

So, when she told me the plan was to get herself committed in order to help Martin, it was with a great deal of trepidation that I agreed.

" _Trust me,"_ she'd said. " _By the time we're done… both of us will be enjoying their hospitality."_

Now, sitting in the good doctor's office, I was starting to have my doubts. I hoped that the nerves I was feeling were only adding to the act we were putting on. The doctor had been scanning Beth's file for the last few minutes, and when he finally looked up at her, she tossed him a perfectly concocted smile of anxiety.

"You were referred to me by a Dr. Babar in Chicago," he said, referencing the file Beth had put together overnight.

"That's right," I said with a nod.

"Isn't there a children's book about an elephant named Babar?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

That had been my call, I fought not to chuckle at the fact that we actually used it. I had said it as a joke, and Beth had run with it. Sam would be rolling his eyes so hard all you'd see would be whites. But he wasn't here. Who the hell knew where he was, by the way. The last we'd heard from him, he'd been headed to Chicago… hence Dr. Babar's location. Past that, Beth had received a text every few days as a check-in, but no further information. Once we were done here, we were headed North to pick him up, like it or not.

"I don't know," I said with a frown, playing my part. "I don't have any elephant books. Look, Doctor, I-I-I think the doc was in over his head with this one." I pointed at Beth, who smiled at the doctor again. "Because my wife is…" I trailed my voice off deliberately, and circled a finger at the side of my head - the classic "cray cray" sign, and let out a little whistle.

Dr. Fuller didn't seem to appreciate my humour. Mind you, neither would I if this were for real. But it wasn't. We had parts to play, and sadly, the truth was pretty much going to get us exactly where we needed to be.

"Okay, fine, thank you," the doctor said, frowning at me. "That's-that's really not necessary." He picked up the file, plus a notepad and turned his attentions to Beth. "Why don't you tell me how you're feeling, Alex?"

Beth sighed, shrugging her shoulders and scrunching her nose up a little as if she didn't really understand why she was here. "I'm fine," she said. "I mean, okay, a little down in the dumps I guess…"

"Okay. Any idea why?" The doctor asked, not looking up from whatever he was writing on his notepad.

Beth took a deep breath, and held her hands out, palms up in a futile gesture. "Well, you know, maybe because I'm responsible for the start of the Apocalypse." She said it with such conviction, I almost believed her. I frowned, looking sideways at her for a moment. _How much of this wasn't acting?_ That thought troubled me more than the fact that we were trying to get ourselves thrown into a nuthouse.

The doctor had looked up sharply when she spoke, asking "The apocalypse?"

"Yeah, that's right," she nodded in reply. He turned to look at me, and I threw him the smile of an indulgent, patient husband who had heard this before.

"And you think you started it?"

Beth's head bobbed up and down a few times, her hair floating in long strands around her face.

"Well, yeah," she said quite pragmatically. "I mean… not me _personally…_ that was, that was our brother…" she looked sideways at me.

"Your brother?" The doctor asked.

"Right, Sam," she replied.

"You're, married?"

"Well, not to Sam, he's my brother," she said, frowning slightly.

"In-law…." I cut in, reaching out to pat her arm as it rested on the side of the armchair. "Right honey?"

"Yeah, right," Beth nodded. "Brother-in-law."

Dr Fuller nodded thoughtfully, making a couple of notes. How I wished I could see what he had to say. Maybe, just maybe I'd request our files after this. I mean, we could do that… I think… and it would be interesting to see what the good man was saying.

"I see. And, your brother, Sam. He started the Apocalypse?" Dr Fuller asked, looking up.

"Right," Beth confirmed. "He killed this demon, Lilith, and accidentally freed Lucifer from Hell." She paused and let that sink in, seeing the doctor's confused expression.

"But, you have to understand. If I'd never sold my soul, to bring him back from the dead, Sam wouldn't have been here to release Lucifer. So really? The Apocalypse? _Totally_ on me." I had to force my poker face. I was grateful for those nights spent practicing with her, especially the nights of strip poker… but, I was getting distracted. Turning my attention back to the doctor, he was frowning… making more notes. What the hell could he be writing about?

"Did you say you sold your soul?" He asked after a moment.

"Yes," Beth said, nodding. "To bring Sam back after the Yellow-Eyed Demon had him killed. But doc…" she leaned forward, bringing her head closer to his desk and whispering conspiratorially, "...it all backfired." She raised her finger to her lips, frowning slightly and pausing. After about ten seconds she sat back in her seat and sighed heavily. "And now Lucifer, he's topside, and we're trying to stop him."

The doctor looked at me, and I tilted my head to the side, still the indulgent husband who thought his wife was crazy with a side order of nuts. "Who is?" Fuller asked.

"Me," Beth replied quickly. "And him," she added, pointing to me. "Sam too, plus Cas."

"Cas?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, my guardian angel."

"Oh, you mean, like a...like an angel on your shoulder?" Fuller asked.

"No," Beth laughed, rolling her eyes like he was in fact the crazy one. "He wears a trench coat."

Fuller stared at her a moment and then went back to taking notes, writing furiously across the page. I grinned over a Beth, who flashed me a thumbs up while he wasn't looking. I gave him a moment to process everything she'd said, before I started with my part of the act - the one that Beth _assured me_ would get us locked up in the coo-coo house together.

 _Damn it, she better be right._

"See what I mean, Doc?" I asked. "My wife's been beating herself up about this for months. The apocalypse wasn't her fault."

The doctor stopped writing, a stunned look on his face as he lifted his gaze to me. "It's not?"

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "It's mine. Because, I totally convinced that Crossroads Demon to take me instead. There was no way in Hell I was having my _wife_ \- well, girlfriend at the time - go to Hell for my brother. She's a good Christian, do you _know_ what they'd have done to her down there?"

Beth reached out and squeezed my hand, giving me a look of adoration topped off with a smile.

"So brave, my Eddie," she said in a wistful tone. "All the time, looking out for me, and Sam. Keeping us safe. It's not his fault."

I smiled back at her. "It's not yours either, honey bunch. If anyone is to blame, It's Ruby!"

The doctor had full on stopped taking notes at this stage. He was engaged, on a level of curiosity that I couldn't say I blamed. I mean, honestly, I would have been worried listening to us too. There had been someone who said that _truth_ is often stranger than _fiction._ Man, that guy had no idea how right he'd been.

"Who… who is _Ruby?"_ The good doctor spluttered.

"Oh, she's another demon," I supplied, seeing his eyes widen. "Not the one Sam killed to bring on the Apocalypse… but … she was there. She got Sam addicted to demon blood, and near the end, he was practically chugging the stuff."

Fuller looked from me to Beth, and she mimicked drinking a big stein of beer and shook her head sadly.

"My brother's not evil, he didn't _mean_ to get in so deep..." I explained, looking over at Beth. "He was just...high...yeah?"

"Right!" Beth said, nodding furiously.

"And it's not my wife's fault he spiraled downhill. If I hadn't been in Hell, he would _never_ have gotten under Ruby's influence. I take _full_ responsibility." I said, hand over my heart as I said it. "So, could you just... fix her up so we can get back to traveling around the country and hunting monsters?"

Fuller paused, holding a finger up in the air while he picked up the phone and dialed an extension. I hazarded a nervous look at Beth, slightly worried, but she returned my look with a confident smile, and a reassuring squeeze to my hand.

"Irma...cancel my lunch," the doctor said when his secretary picked up the other end.

I smiled gratefully at the doctor as he hung up. This was it. We were in… we had to be.

* * *

 _ **Inside the Mental Health Ward**_

It was amazing how _easily_ it came, slipping back into the hunt. There had to be some psychological euphemism for that, up there along with denial and … maybe seeking redemption for all of my failures. Mostly, it was because Beth had reminded me what we were here for. We were hunters, we protected those who couldn't protect themselves - it was the family business.

As we walked side by side down a bleak, grey corridor, a nurse led the way, speaking in happy, friendly tones that grated on my every nerve.

"Doctor Fuller would like to keep you both under observation for a couple of days," she said, turning to look at us over her shoulder, never faltering in her strides.

"Both?" I asked, feigning surprise. "Me too?"

The nurse smiled, and turned back to look ahead. "Yes, Sugar," she replied loud enough for me to hear. "The doctor thinks that would be best."

I flashed Beth a victorious smile, and she grinned at me. Step one, check.

Step two, apparently, was in a tiny little examination room where I ended up alone with the bubbly nurse.

"All right," she said, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my right arm. "I'm just gonna give you a little check-up." I looked at her, raising my eyebrow. Now that we were in, I was starting to feel the nerves slipping away. As she pumped up the cuff and placed a stethoscope to my inner elbow to read my blood pressure, I looked her over.

Utilitarian. Brunette, hair pulled back into a ponytail, white long-sleeved shirt under blue scrubs, and sensible white shoes.

"Okay, Nurse Ratched," I said. "Let's get one thing straight. I've seen Cuckoo's Nest, so don't try any of that soul-crushing, authoritarian crap on me, hm?"

"Okie-dokie," she said with a smile. I looked at her, nodding once, and feeling quite uncomfortable the way she was looking at me. She seemed to be enjoying her job just a _tad too much._ But I was reassured by the okie-dokie. Only nice people said okie-dokie.

After writing a couple of notes in my file, the nurse looked over her shoulder at me. "All right, you can go ahead and take down your pants," she invited. I stopped, looking at her.

"Wait, w-what for?" I asked, frowning at her. She turned around with an innocent smile, snapping a pair of gloves on to her hands.

 _Say, what?!_

"Oh, no… is that really necessary?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is, just doing my job," she said with a smile. I sighed, and hopped down off the gurney I'd been sitting on, reaching for my pants.

 _Beth hadn't mentioned_ any _of this when she was selling me on this hunt!_

* * *

 **Short Time Later**

Beth was due for her _check-up_ after me. I had not seen her on my way out of the examination room, another orderly came to take my belongings, and hand over some blue scrubs, shoes and a blue robe. I'd nearly changed my mind when I was led into a bathroom, and _assisted_ to shower. At least there hadn't been any extra cavity searches that time. I'd reluctantly given up my jeans, and donned the garb of the asylum. After all, we needed to be here, and so that meant playing ball.

I thought back on my time in prison, and realised I hadn't been _quite so thoroughly examined_ when I'd been admitted to the prison, because we'd been doing a favour for the warden. This almost felt wrong, yet here we were. By the time I was done dressing, the orderly was back and escorting me to the common room.

I shifted uncomfortably, leaning against the back of a couch and looking at my surroundings. Nothing much had changed in the ten minutes I'd been here. I was staring at a spot on the floor when I heard familiar steps, and then she was in my arms, her hands reaching up to clasp my face and lift it up to her lips, pulling me close and then closing the distance.

Beth kissed me as if her life depended on it. _Or,_ I realised, _like_ _she was trying to get something out of her head._ She slowly lingered with her lips pressed to mine, before opening those swirling brown eyes to look at me and letting out a little satisfied moan.

"Better?" I asked with a grin, and she smiled back.

"Getting there."

"How was your Silkwood shower?" I smirked, my eyes trailing down the length of her body and taking in the way those scrubs clung to her hips - how the hell did anyone manage to make _scrubs_ look that damn sexy?

"Heh," Beth scoffed. "Yeah. Good. Uh, so… did the Nurse…" she reached behind me, grabbing a generous handful of ass, and causing me to jump.

"Whoa!" I said. "Take it easy there sugarpie." But I nodded at the unspoken question. "She was very thorough."

"Yeah. Right," Beth nodded, stepping back slightly and running a hand through her hair. "Me too."

"Like… both?" I asked. I had always wondered how that went down in border security. Like, there was quite literally _twice as many_ places for a woman to hide… Beth looked at me, her eyes slightly widening.

"Uh huh!"

I couldn't help but get the image that popped into my head. I mean, seriously. Two beautiful women… poking, and prodding. "Oh man," I said, a far away look in my eyes. "I would have paid…"

"Dean!"

"What?!" I asked, seeing the flash of anger in her eyes.

"Really?" She was giving me that look that told me, she was annoyed and yet totally not surprised that I was bringing up something like this while we were in the middle of a hunt. But what was I supposed to do? I was, despite all my issues of late, still a hot blooded man.

"Oh come on," I grinned, lowering my voice and looking around to see if anyone was listening. Nobody was. I continued, "...you know we've kind of been there…" In fact, I was getting excited just remembering that one trip to Florida when we'd had a run in with a succubus… one hell of a sexy, blonde, beautiful….

"Not. One. More. Word," Beth warned, her words clipped as she narrowed her eyes at me. I couldn't help myself. I had to… _I simply had to._

Leaning in closer to Beth, I brought my lips to her ear and whispered. " _Olivia."_

Beth turned to glare at me, but underneath her stern look, I could see her eyes twinkling. She took advantage of our proximity, her hand sliding between our bodies, just resting… the back of her hand against my…

I felt myself twitch. She did too if her expression was anything to go by.

"Perhaps you can watch... " she said with a raised eyebrow.

"But…"

"Watch and no play, that can be your punishment." I swallowed, hard, and found myself at a loss for words. Every cell in my body wanted to wipe that smug look off her face with a heart stopping kiss, pulling her into my arms, and then bending her over the couch… right here… repeating what had just occurred in the intake room, only with my...

I stopped that line of thought as soon as I looked over the couch, and saw all the other patients. The woman playing with a pink bunny looked especially mental. It definitely killed my buzz.

Sighing, I looked at Beth and slipped a hand around her waist, pulling her against me. Not sexually, just a need to touch her, have her near me, to remind me of better things to come. Maybe I needed her to remind me we _weren't_ going to end up in here… crazy, filled with knowledge of things that most people thought were figments of the imagination.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," I said after a moment.

"It's the least we could do. Martin saved Dad's ass more times than we can count. He's a great hunter," she replied.

"Was," I pointed out. "Until Albuquerque."

No one talked about Albuquerque. We hadn't been there, but the story Dad had told us was enough. Martin had been lucky to get out alive, and while he'd managed to kill the monster he'd been hunting, it hadn't been without loss.

"Dad would have said… we have to keep moving, doing the job," Beth said, her face taking on a stubborn, resolute expression. She had drilled me for the last few days, pushing me, just like I had done to her when she'd first joined us. Then, I'd been afraid of losing her, of having Dad decide it would be easier to send her away. I suspected her reasons were similar, watching me slip into myself after losing Ellen and Jo. No one wanted to see their loved ones disappear in front of them.

The fact that Beth had pulled out the old drill sergeant _Dad_ routine to bring me back, said more about us than it did our situation. We were irreversibly broken, I could see that. I was okay with that, because at least we had each other. Beth, still pushing us to get back into hunting, was … more troubling.

"You're really starting to worry me, you know that right?" I said as she observed our surroundings, and started to lead us through the common room, looking for Martin.

"Why?" It was a look of true confusion offered me as we walked.

"This whole, keep marching on, do the job, stuff it all in til we die crap Dad used to make me sprout at you after…" I trailed off.

"Say it," she pushed, staring at me.

"After your dad," I spat out, reaching out to grab her arm and stop her walking down a hallway. "Seriously Beth, I … I'm more worried about _you._ " It was the truth. She hadn't cried. She hadn't beat up anything - other than me, in training, and I knew she went easy on me that day. She hadn't had any of her heart to hearts - she wasn't talking to me, Sam… or Cole for that matter.

"Oh, puhlease Dean," she replied, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "Stop. Look, just because we're in the loony bin doesn't give you the right to head-shrink me."

"Beth…"

"Ellen and Jo dying- of course it's not good. It's awful," she continued in a level tone. "But. We can't wallow in it Dean. We just can't."

 _Keep moving. Head down. Do the job Dean… don't hesitate, don't react, simply let yourself do what you have been trained to do. Let it out through the hunt. The hunt… protecting your brother… is everything._

"Beth, sooner or later we both know you are going to have to deal with this. You can't keep it all inside." I said.

"I'm fine!" Beth insisted with her best smile. For a moment I looked at her, then I frowned, starting to lead the way into the second common room just down the hall.

"Yeah," I muttered. "That's what worries me."

"You worry too much," she replied, reaching out to squeeze my hand. "You know that, right?" As we reached the open area, Beth quickly scanned the room and then inclined her head to the right. "Oh, there he is."

Just like that, we were back on the hunt.

Martin was staring thoughtfully out through the window at a dreary day. It was all dull and grey to me. Beth cleared her throat and Martin turned to look at us, his face brightening when he recognised our faces.

"Beth! Dean, wow," he said, standing up to shake my hand. "Wow, you guys grew up. You look good."

The last time we'd seen Martin, Beth would have been just sixteen, she was a sight to behold now, grown into a woman. No longer the mousy little preacher girl that Martin had known, I felt a rush of pride when I looked at how much confidence and strength she exuded now. Even I was different, I supposed, but those changes were more inside - though Beth said I was growing more handsome with each year, like a fine wine. I took it with a grain of salt.

"Thanks," Beth replied to him. "You too, Martin."

She tucked her hair behind her right ear and took a seat across the table from him. Anyone else would have thought she was telling the truth, but I knew her tell. She was lying. I looked over Martin, seeing a shell of the man he'd once been. It might have been over a decade, but the years had not been kind to him. He slumped, his eyes moving continuously around the room - skittish, like he was expecting something to jump out at him any time.

"Uh… well, thanks for coming," Martin said, motioning for me to sit between him and Beth. I grabbed a nearby chair and turned it around, straddling and sitting with my arms across the back of it. Martin cleared his throat, looking uncomfortably at first Beth, then me.

"In the old days, I could've taken care of this thing with both hands tied behind my back...but, well...now…"

Beth and I nodded gently at him, as he gestured to himself, as if he was exhibit A in the evidence of failure.

"What do you think we're hunting?" Beth asked, getting to the point.

"I don't know yet," Martin said. "A ghost, demon, monster...animal, vegetable, mineral." He chuckled at his joke, then sobered when he saw we weren't laughing. "Like I told you, the hospital's had five deaths in the last four months. Doctors keep calling it suicides, but they're wrong."

"So, you've seen this thing?" Beth continued. Martin shook his head.

"Has anyone seen this thing?" I asked.

"Well, a couple patients have, uh...had glimpses, but there's not a lot to go on," Martin replied.

 _That was better!_ "Are they reliable?" I asked.

"Oh, sure, why wouldn't they be?" Martin replied seriously. I felt my eyebrow raise involuntarily at the question, turning to look around a nearby woman who was dancing and humming to herself. I looked skeptically at Martin.

"Gee, I don't know," I said.

Martin looked from me to the girl, and then back, his shoulders sagging. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "I know you kids think I'm a bag of loose screws. Now, you wouldn't be wrong. But I wouldn't have called you unless there was something here. I can feel it in my gut."

Beth looked across the table at me, silent, in a moment I could tell she was considering everything Martin had said. I watched her, feeding back to her through my eyes the thoughts I was having.

I pursed my lips at her. ' _This is crazy….'_

She raised an eyebrow at me as if to say, ' _this is Martin'._

I frowned just a minuscule amount, telling her ' _I'm not happy with this.'_

She opened her eyes slightly wider, and tilted her head sideways. ' _So you do believe him?'_

I rolled my eyes to the top of my head and silently sighed, only someone watching me closely would have seen it. The exchange only took a few seconds, but it was all there. Years of working together.

I saw her little smile of victory and softened my eyes at her. ' _God I love you.'_

' _I love you too,"_ her eyes said back to me.

Beth turned back to Martin, smiling. "We believe you, Have you checked any of the bodies? Found signs of an attack?"

"Well, uh, no...I don't go around dead b-b-b-bodies anymore," Martin said, shaking his head and looking slightly terrified. I frowned at his reaction, which worried me more than everything else about this. I knew the story of what had happened in Albuquerque, but… could one hunt really do this to someone?

Even knowing I'd just spent the last week practically comatose, I'd known I'd come out of it eventually. That there was nowhere for me to go, nothing more to be done. For a while there I had just wanted to give up, and I had. But somewhere, deep down, I still knew… _this doesn't end in a mental ward…_

"Alex, Eddie," I heard Dr Fuller's voice as he walked toward us, turning to look at him.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're making friends," he added, seeing Martin at the table. "Why don't you and, uh, Mr. Creaser join us for group? Please. Right this way." He waited for us to stand, and then led the way out of the commons room, pausing as I reached him, a hand shooting out to rest on my arm.

"Actually, I'm gonna be putting you in the afternoon group," he said.

My heart skipped a beat.

"What?" I asked, glancing at Beth who quickly covered up an alarmed look. "Why?"

"Well, to be frank, uh," Dr Fuller looked as if he was searching for the right words. "The relationship that you have with your wife seems dangerously codependent. I think a little time apart will do you both good."

 _He had to be kidding._

Fuller turned and walked away, as if the matter wasn't up for discussion. Martin started to follow him while Beth hesitated.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" I whispered to her.

"I'll be _fine,"_ Beth said. "In fact, we'll cover more ground this way. Go … mingle. I'll find you when we're done."

I watched her hurry after Fuller and Martin, a heaviness settling in on my chest like a wet rag.

 _Pull yourself together,_ I chided myself. _You know what you need?_ I continued to monologue as my eyes alighted on a game at a nearby table. _A distraction._

* * *

 _ **An hour later**_

This was a killer game I had going! I moved a piece into the final row and chuckled. "King me!" I said to no one in particular, laughing when I saw how well I was doing.

"Eddie?" A woman's voice caught my attention, for a moment I forgot she was talking to me, but then I remembered. _I was Eddie!_ I looked up at her, seeing a pretty woman, the same blue scrubs but with a white lab coat over the top. She had long, dark brown hair that fell straight down her front, to just above her breasts. Not that I was staring… much. I forced myself to look up… brown eyes, pretty, like Beth.

"I'm Dr. Cartwright. I've been assigned to your case," she said with a smile.

"You're my shrink?" I asked, tossing her one of my Winchester smiles. "Heh. Lucky me."

She didn't react as expected, instead opening her file and reading from it. "And you're my… paranoid schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychosis," she replied, closing the file and smiling at me again. "Lucky me."

I looked down, unable to come up with a good comeback there. Beth had certainly done a number on any pick ups with this background.

"Can we talk?" She asked, taking a seat opposite me before I could answer. I looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

"Yes. I actually got some questions for you," I replied.

"What a coincidence. I've got some for you, too," she said, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.

"Well, then...Quid pro quo, Clarice," I said, sucking my bottom lip into my mouth a couple of times, just like Hannibal Lector. _Man I loved that show… scared the crap out of Beth though - monsters she got, but humans preying on humans? She didn't get that._

"Okay, Hannibal. I'll go first. How many hours a night do you sleep?" Erica asked.

I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. "Three or four, every couple of nights." I was exaggerating slightly, but not by much, not lately. "What can you tell me about the recent suicides in here?"

"They were tragic," she replied.

"But you haven't noticed anything...strange, like, uh...I don't know, black smoke or sulfur?" I pressed on. Cartwright seemed to ignore the fact that I was asking two questions in a row, latching on to my unusual comment.

"No. Why? What's that supposed to mean?"

Beth had said that truth is stranger than fiction. Strangely I felt I _wanted_ to tell this woman the truth. So I did. "Demon signs. I hunt demons, monsters, that kind of thing."

She remained unfazed by this reply, asking, "how many drinks do you have a week?"

I assumed she wasn't speaking particularly about _last week,_ given it had been rather… rough. So I averaged it out for her, it was still pretty bad.

"Well, I gotta sleep sometime. So, uh, what's seven days times..." my voice trailed off as I did that math, then looked back at her. "Somewhere in the mid fifties," I said, getting a blank expression from her. My turn. "You ever feel any, uh, cold spots or get a chill walking through the hospital?"

"Not that I can remember. If I had?" She asked.

"It means there's a ghost around."

"Okay," she said slowly. "How long have you known your wife?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Define…'known'..."

She shrugged. "Well, it seems like a pretty straight forward question, Eddie."

"Well, see, it's really not," I informed her, leaning forward on the table. "Because if you go by the time we met… after the mind wipes, then it's been… 14 years. But, if we go with the very first moment we _remember_ meeting, before the mind wipes, then it's like..." Again I did the math, continuing, "21 years."

"Mind wipes?" She looked genuinely curious.

"Right. By our guardian angel, Castiel. You can't blame him though, he was just doing what he was told," I said, wondering just how far I was going to take this little game. I mean, I was coming off pretty crazy here.

"Which was to… wipe your mind?" Cartwright asked.

"Right, exactly," I said with a grin. My turn again. "Have the patients reported seeing anything weird?"

"In here?" She chuckled, looking around the room and leaning forward to whisper, "all the time."

I followed her gaze and realised what a stupid question that had been. "Right."

"So…" Cartwright said, leaning even closer until her arms were resting on top of the file she'd put on the table, over the checkers game. "Let's talk about your father…"

I swallowed hard. Now it was getting real.

* * *

 _ **2 hours later**_

After my _session,_ I'd had dinner - but I hadn't seen Beth. Someone had said that the groups often ate after we did, so I'd taken to wandering the hallways of this desolate space, lost in my own thoughts. I mean, what if Cartwright was right? What if we really were just delusional, working our way across the country in an egotistical struggle of good vs. evil? If anyone could be called out for getting caught up in their ego, it was Dad, which Cartwright had so eloquently pointed out. She'd also asked, _what if I just stopped?_

 _What if…?_

What if I could just let it all go, take Beth far away, somewhere this wasn't even happening from what I could see. Like… Vegas! Nothing ever seemed to phase Vegas. We could live out our life just enjoying the kinds of things that _were us._ Okay, maybe more than me, but I knew she'd love it.

 _We could finally see the Grand Canyon._

Why didn't I just do that with her? How many times had we driven through Nevada? How many times had we been close… but not close enough to take a pit stop? We talked about it all the time - it was the top of our list of places to see, yet we never got there.

 _Why?_

What was I afraid of?

What if it was some kind of … final endgame, and by going there we had to concede there was nothing left to…

"Dean!"

I stopped short at the sound of Beth's voice, turning around and seeing her standing in a doorway I'd just passed. I didn't know what she saw, but when she looked at my face she shifted from a smile to alarm. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, walking quickly to close the distance between us, her hands coming up to frame my face.

"Yeah," I said automatically, trying to placate her. She saw through it and frowned. "Okay, no. I just got thraped. So, no, I am not okay," I said after a sigh. I looked into her eyes and saw all my hopes and dreams there, safe. I felt an ache in my chest at the thought and pulled her into my arms, wrapping them tightly around her and holding. She responded in kind, her arms coming about my waist to squeeze back.

"Dean, you're scaring me…"

"I'm sorry, I'm okay. I uh…" _I love you so damn much it hurts._ I pulled back and smiled at her. "Tell me you found something."

Beth took a moment longer to assess me, her eyes lingering on me before smiling again, and nodding. "Yeah. A guy says he saw the creature. We should talk to him."

"Yeah, okay, good. Let's go," I said, seeing her hesitate.

"I can't, I'm supposed to... " She glanced behind her. "I need to stay here in my room, it's almost time for lights out." _That's right… she was going to be in another room to mine. How long had that been?_

 _I didn't like it at all._

I held my breath. Counted to ten. It was just a minor setback. That's it. _She'll be back before you know it, Dean._

"I looked up the nurse shifts, they rotate in an hour, they do my end first… so, after they check in, meet here?" Beth asked, her gaze back to concerned. I nodded, clearing my throat so that I could speak.

"Yeah, sooner we take care of this thing, sooner we can get gone. This place gives me the creeps," I said. I felt a sense of panic welling up in my chest when I looked at her. I couldn't let her see that I was breaking. I wasn't ready for this… I knew it, Sam knew it - or he'd be here helping, and Beth.. she had to know it too.

I turned around quickly before she could see the anxiety on my face, and found myself face to face with a gorgeous blonde woman. She reached out for me, and before I knew it, had pulled my face in, her lips finding mine in a hot, sensual kiss. I froze for a moment, almost startled, and then pulled away with a raised eyebrow.

"Hi," she said.

"Uh, hi," I replied, smiling at her.

"I'm Wendy," she said.

"Uh, huh." I felt Beth move next to me, tossing me a curious look and I slid my arm around her waist. "This is my wife…"

Wendy smiled at Beth.

"Hi," Wendy said with another smile.

"Yeah, uh, hi," Beth nodded. Wendy continued walking down the hallway, as if nothing had even happened, I turned to Beth with a grin and opened my mouth.

"Dont!" Beth cut in…"don't even say it, Dean."

"Maybe this place isn't so bad after all," I said after a moment.

"Dean… for God's sake! You can't seriously be thinking…"

"You, me and…that… oh yes," I breathed, turning to look at Wendy who was reaching the end of the hall.

"That is just so many ways… wrong, Dean," Beth said, but she was smiling at me, shaking her head in that endearing way that told me she wasn't worried about me now. At least Wendy had accomplished that.

I watched Wendy round the corner, and quickly pressed my lips to Beth's, tasting both her, and the sweet tang of strawberries from Wendy's lips. "Oh, so torn," I murmured, grabbing her buttock and giving it a squeeze.

"Dean…" Beth protested softly as I pushed open her door and backed us into her room, kissing my way down her neck while my hands explored under her scrubs, brushing along her skin.

I felt myself respond to that moan in the only way that I ever did… the _hard_ way.

Voices passed in the hallway outside, discussing handovers, and I quickly moved us out of view of the window in the door, pressing Beth up against the wall and kissing her thoroughly again.

I groaned, pulling back long enough to press my forehead to hers.

"Dammit, okay, I better go before… they'll be..."

"Yeah," Beth nodded, her eyes dark and sultry. She leaned forward, kissing me again - a little more chaste this time. ' _God… you're amazing'_ I thought to myself, pivoting between doing my job, or saying to hell with it and making love to the goddess in front of me. Beth decided.

"I'll see you soon," she said, her hands dropping from my waist. Her eyes were full of apology, laced with a promise of more to come later. It was that promise that always got me, drove me wild with anticipation, and when we weren't hunting it consumed me until I could act on it.

"Not soon enough," I sighed, yanking the door open and exiting before I could change my mind.

* * *

 _ **An hour (and a bit) later**_

I'd scooted around the nurse's station, noting their absence and then crept down the hallway to Beth's room. They were late with their schedule, and I'd been lurking in shadows since slipping out of my room. As I reached her room, I knocked three times on the window and then heard a click at the lock.

The door opened in the dimly lit corridor, and Beth stepped out with her lock pick in hand.

I let out a silent sigh of relief, just seeing her and knowing she was safe. "It's about time those nurses when on their rounds," I muttered, watching Beth close the door behind her. "We got, like, fifteen, twenty minutes. So, where is this guy?"

"Room 306," she replied, flipping her braided hair behind her shoulders and inclining her head down the hallway I'd just come. It was keeping ahead of the nurses, and I was all about that. As we rounded the corner, I heard the one thing that creeped me the hell out being in a nuthouse: screaming.

Beth rushed forward, kneeling at the door in a heartbeat and starting to work the pick in the lock. I looked in the window, seeing feet slam up against the window. _What… the…?_

"Hurry up!" I urged Beth. I couldn't see much going on in the room and that is what scared me. I felt helpless, stuck, unable to do my damn job! "Come on, hurry up!" I snapped.

"Back off Dean!" Beth growled at me, looking up and then she turned back to what she was doing, the lock tumbling.

I slammed my shoulder against the door as I twisted the handle, throwing my weight into it and racing into the room. As Beth followed, I stopped short, feeling her run into me as I stared up at the ceiling. Ted, the man we'd been wanting to talk to, was hanging from a pipe, a bed sheet wrapped around his throat.

We were too late.

"Well, dammit it all to Hell!"

We'd disappeared as quickly as we'd come, locking Ted's door behind him, and scrambling to our rooms. I could barely breathe. He was dead… dead! Just like that, our only clue! My heart had been pounding in my chest like a jackhammer when we reached Beth's room, and I hadn't liked the way my feet had been glued to the floor when she turned to look at me from the doorway.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"No, that thing is still out there!" I said to her, frowning. "What if it comes for you next?"

"Dean, I'll be _fine,"_ Beth said, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder. "Going up against hunters is a little different to the other people in here."

I knew that. I mean, I _knew that_ but my hammering chest was saying otherwise. I looked down the hallway, and could hear shouts as people started to notice Ted's situation.

"You need to get back to your room, _now,"_ Beth said urgently, her eyes full of worry.

"Yeah, okay, I'm going," I said with a nod.

"Wait there," she added, "I'll come get you in a few hours when things have settled down… we'll go to the morgue and check out what happened." I nodded again, this time not saying anything as I padded down the hallway away from the ruckus that was occurring. I ducked behind a huge potted plant as several nurses rushed past me, and then easily made it back to my room without being caught.

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later**_

I was pacing my room, thinking over all the different scenarios that could go wrong here. Beth, locked in a room with a monster… unable to get the door open. Me on the other side of the door, not able to get the door open fast enough. Both of us completely out of our depth… not knowing what this creature was or how it killed, what it was doing in a mental hospital and why it was faking suicides to cover up its killing.

Of course this led to other, more darker, thoughts. Hellhounds. Running. Feeling my feet pulled out from under me. The look on Beth's face as she watched me get dragged back… the sinking, terrifying feeling that shot through me like electricity as I relived those moments of being dragged to Hell. Then Jo… stubborn, proud, stupid girl throwing herself into the frey… helping us to escape and getting herself killed in the process.

 _It could have been Beth!_

It didn't take away from the loss I was feeling for Ellen and Jo, but nothing was more paralysing than thinking about how it could have been _her._

When I looked down at my hands, they were shaking. Not from rage, but from terror… I couldn't control this, I couldn't protect her, _I got Ellen and Jo killed!_ I didn't deserve her.

I barely even heard Beth as she picked the lock on my door and swung the door open, asking, "you ready?"

"Yeah," I nodded, moving with the momentum I already had from the pacing. We shot out of the room, and down the hallway. It was less busy as it had to be close to 10pm or later by now. Before long, we were in the morgue and I was opening the drawer to look at our recently murdered.

Beth moved into place on the other side of the drawer, pulling the sheet back from his face. She looked solemnly at him for a moment, and then started to feel around his head. I picked up the hand closest to me and started to look for anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey, I think I found something," Beth said after a moment.

"What do you got?"

"Right here," she said, nodding toward where she was holding the back of Ted's head. "Uh, give me a hand." We turned his head to the side, and Beth grabbed a long Q-tip from the bench nearby. She stuck it into the hole, and I watched it sink further and further into his skull.

Frowning, she pulled the q-tip out and looked at me. "This hole goes all the way through to his brain."

"What does that mean?" I asked, curiously. Beth was looking around the room, her eyes stopping and a grin spreading across her face. She dropped Ted's head back on to the table and crossed the room, turning around with a bone saw in her hands.

"Let's find out," she said.

"Seriously?!" I spluttered, looking at her in disbelief.

She cocked her head to the side and blew me a kiss. "You might want to keep watch."

"I love my wife," I said with a grin. _She has no damn idea… no idea… how much._

As I closed the door behind me, I heard the bone saw start up, and the grating sound of it ripping through skull. I shuddered, feeling a ripple of disgust run down my spine. I was _so glad_ I wasn't in there. I had no idea how Sam and Beth stomached this kind of thing. I could do it…. _If I had to…_ but if I had a choice? Hell no. The way she'd almost looked excited wielding that bone saw? It put me on edge.

After about five minutes I heard a door open down the end of the hall. I pushed back into the morgue and found Beth holding up Ted's brain.

"Beth…"

She looked up, her eyes full of fascination. "Dean, look, his brain's been completely _sucked dry."_

Another shudder rippled down my spine. "That's fascinating," I heard myself say in a flat tone. She chuckled, seeing my discomfort.

"Hurry up," I added. "Someone's coming."

Beth started to put Ted's brain back in his skull, asking, "you know what this means, right?"

"You are even more macabre than I realised?" I asked with a hint of humour.

She stopped what she was doing and cocked an eyebrow at me. "Big word there, babe."

"I have my moments," I said, taking a few steps closer and gesturing for her to get a move on.

"This thing is a wraith," she continued, taking the top of Ted's skull and putting it back in place.

I paused for the briefest of moments, contemplating what she was saying. We hadn't come across one of these in over a decade. The last time - which had also been Beth's first hunt - had been fourteen years ago.

"Yeah, looks like," I agreed finally, weighing all the options. I hurried to help her clean up, putting the bone saw back while she pulled the sheet back up over Ted's head. When I rolled the drawer back into the cooler, I saw Beth removing her gloves then throwing them in the bin.

Moving to the door, I could hear the footsteps almost upon us. I turned to Beth, seeing her smirking at me.

"What?"

Beth took off her top, revealing a plain black bra that contrasted beautifully with her soft white skin. She jumped up on the gurney, her legs dangling toward the floor and nodded. "Take me," she said.

"What?!" I whispered furiously at her. "Now?!"

"No, tomorrow Dean… yes now!" All at once I saw where she was going with this.

"You don't have to ask me twice," I grinned, moving in front of her and sliding my hands along her back. "You have a ridiculously stupid libido, you know that?"

She giggled at me, pulling my head down so it was buried against her neck. "I can't help it," she breathed. "Must be the risk of getting caught."

"Have I mentioned how sexy you are?" I murmured into her skin.

Beth took a fistful of my hair and pulled my head up so she could look at me. "Less talk, more action," she ordered, kissing me hard and fast.

I groaned into the warmth of her lips and tongue, rising to meet her heated passion. I wanted to feel every inch of her skin, the more I thought about it the harder I got… so, so in need of what was right in front of me, and still aching from our earlier tease.

Pulling up her bra, I latched my lips around her nipple, leaning her back slightly and hearing her gasp with pleasure… just as the door behind us opened.

We froze.

"What are you two doing in here?" A woman asked, and I grinned at Beth as I lifted my head, pulling her top down over her chest. Beth flashed me a _perfect distraction_ smile, dropping her eyes to my very hard erection pressed against where her legs were wrapped around me. I suddenly wanted to one-up her.

I raised an eyebrow at her, turned to the nurse - seeing that it was the same one who had giving me my welcome examination. I had just a split second to think this was poetic justice as I pulled down my pants and raised my hands in the air.

"Pudding!" I cried out, giving her a big, innocent smile.

Down below, I was saluting her with my full glory, something that did not go unmissed by the straight laced nurse.

"We love dessert," Beth said from behind me, letting out a giggle and sliding her arms up and over my shoulders to caress my chest.

The nurse smiled and rolled her eyes at us. "All right, come on, you two…" She turned on her heel, waving for us to follow her.

I let out a sigh of relief and pulled up my pants again, looking at Beth as she jumped down to the floor. "Crazy works," I whispered to her as we all left the room.

Ten minutes later, alone in my room, I was still hyper aroused and thinking this was _not_ going to do _at all._

Suddenly there was a click at my door, and the lock turned. I crouched up on my bed in the corner, making myself a smaller target, one that was ready to spring into action. As the shadowy figure slipped into my room, I waited until the door was closed and then leaped!

We crashed to the floor, rolling one over the other until I came out on top, swinging my arm back.

"Whoa!" Beth called out, gasping and raising her arms up to block my intended blow. "Easy… tough guy."

"You're getting rusty," I said, chuckling as I dropped my hand to the floor beside her, feeling myself instantly hard again with her proximity.

"I wasn't expecting to get jumped … well… not in a bad way, sneaking into my husband's room," she said breathlessly.

"Like I said… rusty," I grinned, and then I let my weight fall down til we were pressed closely together, kissing her with a ferocious hunger.

* * *

 **Want a more indepth look at how Dean and Beth spend their night? Check out Dean & Beth - The X-Files - Chapter 30**

* * *

 _ **The next morning**_

Beth was gone by the time I woke up. I groaned, stretching my limbs out until I couldn't reach any further. Down lower, I already had a tent happening, this made me groan again when I thought back to last night's stolen activities.

Unfortunately I didn't have anyone to help me out with that this morning. I grabbed a pair of clean scrubs from the closet, threw on a robe, and went looking for the showers. I needed a long cold one to start, and then I needed to warm up - what was it about these places and their ability to chill you to the core?

By the time I reached the common lounge, Beth and Martin were already there. I waved at them as I rounded the outside of the room, a series of clown paintings catching my eye. Now _that_ would be an ironic source of art to have in a mental hospital… the art of a serial killer.

"Are those original Gacy's?" I chuckled as I reached Martin and Beth. Martin flashed a slight frown in my direction.

"I painted those," he said. _Gulp._ Oops!

"Back on point, please," Beth said, nodding at me. "Martin, we're pretty sure this thing is a wraith. Based on Ted's lack of… brain matter."

Martin visibly paled at the word, and I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. _Am I hungry? Or…?_

"Have you ever tangled with one before?" Beth asked, seeing Martin's reaction the same as I had.

"Never," Martin said, shaking his head. "Never wanted to, neither. You?"

Beth nodded. "Yeah. Once. When we were younger."

"Beth's first hunt," I said proudly with a smile.

"Really?" Martin asked, turning to look at Beth with awe and surprise.

"Well… second, technically," Beth said, looking a little uncomfortable with the attention. Martin however was looking impressed with this information.

"How do you kill it?" He asked.

"Silver," I said. "You so much as touch a wraith with the stuff, and the skin will crackle."

"That's the good news. The bad news is...they can pass as humans," Beth added. We all stopped to think this over and look around the room. I was thinking back to our first wraith hunt, the nursing home, the pretty orderly… it could have been anyone, someone no one would have expected, and we'd walked in on it… two bumbling teenagers, looking like they were in the wrong room at the wrong time. But we'd come prepared. We weren't nearly so prepared this time around.

"It could be any Peter, Paul and Mary in the joint," Martin pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah. Fantastic," I muttered under my breath.

"So, how do we find it?" Martin asked.

"A mirror," Beth supplied, nodding at one that happened to be up in the corner of the room, a looking glass to see around corners. "Lore says a wraith will show its true form in a mirror."

"That's how you found yours? The first time?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "We just got lucky… kind of… walked in on it feeding."

"I don't think we're going to get that lucky here," Beth said.

"Yeah, so, we just gotta spot check every patient and every staff member," I said.

Martin looked a little uncomfortable, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. "Where was the one you found?"

"Nursing home," Beth answered.

Martin nodded thoughtfully at this answer. "Makes sense. Kind of like being in a mental hospital," he said finally.

"This is probably better," Beth commented, and I couldn't have agreed more with her. I turned, nodding as I looked around at the half dozen people in the room with us, mentally thinking about the countless others who were in their rooms, in therapy, or getting food. It was a smorgasbord for a wraith.

"A nuthouse; it's a perfect captive victim pool," I said with a nod.

"Sure," Martin agreed. "Who's gonna believe a patient when they say they saw a monster? It's the perfect hunting ground."

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath, meeting eyes with Beth over Martin's shoulder. She gestured with her head for me to follow, and I nodded imperceptively back at her. We said our good byes to Martin, and started walking toward the cafeteria; my stomach was positively growling.

"First, I need food," I said to her. "Then, we need to find something silver to take this thing down. Time to turn the hunter into the hunted."

* * *

 _ **Patient Common Lounge  
Nurses' Station**_

I'd taken up residence at the station, it had the best angle of the mirror, and I could see people approaching from both directions down the hallway. As I stared at the mirror, Dr Cartwright decided to join me. She sauntered up, looking all cool and sophisticated in her white lab coat, and leaned against the wall next to me.

"What's up, Doc?" I asked, chuckling inside at my joke. All I needed was a carrot.

"You tell me," she said, nodding toward the mirror I was looking at.

"Hunting," I replied without filter. "A wraith, actually. Could be anybody."

"So, I could be a monster?" She asked. I took a moment to check the mirror, her face wasn't distorted in any way.

I shook my head. "No, you're clean."

"Why you?" She asked, the question throwing me for a loop.

"Why me, what?"

"Why do you have to hunt monsters?" She clarified, catching my gaze as I looked at her. "Why not let someone else do it?"

I shrugged, smiling at her like I always smiled in the face of an uncomfortable question. "Can't find anybody else that dumb," I joked. But the question bothered me more than I let on. I mulled it over, wondering… _why?_ The answer was the same one that Beth and I brought up on a regular basis. "It's my job. Somebody's gotta save people's asses, yours included."

"So, is there a quota?" Cartwright asked. "How many people do you have to save?"

"All of them," I replied quickly.

"All of them? You think you have to save everyone?" She asked, looking a little skeptical.

"Yep. Whole wide world of sports," I nodded. At first it had been Sammy. I mean, when he was a baby there was no one else more important to save. Then, it had been Beth as well, taking her under my wing, teaching her to hunt, keeping her as safe as I could. Now, thanks to us… we had to save the world.

"How?" Cartwright asked.

I looked at her, hesitating. To this point I'd been pretty upfront, but realistically… how long before they jabbed me with a sedative and started doing tests on my brain. I sounded downright insane! Our story was so crazy, we hadn't even had to make shit up to get in here in the first place.

"Believe me, whatever you've got, I've heard weirder," Cartwright said with a reassuring smile.

I took a deep breath, and then I let it all out. "It's the end of the world, okay? I mean, it's a damn Biblical Apocalypse, and if I don't stop it and save everyone, then no one will, and we all die." There. Out. Didn't that feel better? I waited to feel the heavy weight on my chest start to fade, because I'd told my big horrible secret to someone, and they currently weren't laughing at me, or looking like I was crazy. But it didn't go away. The same heaviness stayed. I wasn't sure if I was relieved or sad.

"That's horrible," she answered with a slight frown of concern.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I said under my breath, but loud enough for her to hear.

"I mean, apocalypse or no apocalypse...monsters or no monsters, that's a crushing weight to have on your shoulders. To feel like six billion lives depend on you...God...how do you get up in the morning?"

I stared at her for a moment, contemplating the question. I did feel heavy, I had for a long time. The only one who took that away for fleeting moments - like last night - was Beth. Yet, even there I had a responsibility, a promise to keep her safe, to love her and protect her for as long as I could. She did the same to me, I knew that, and she probably felt the same weight as I did. We both had been watching over Sammy for so long, that neither of us really knew what it meant to be free of this weight. And now the fate of the world rested squarely on _our_ shoulders.

Cartwright was still looking at me expectantly. I realised with a start that I hadn't answered her question.

"That's a good question," I said finally. A question I had no answers for, save to say I was a stubborn son of a bitch.

Dr Fuller came around the corner and smiled kindly at me as he passed. "Hello Eddie."

"Doc," I nodded, glancing up at the mirror. When I saw his face, I saw death. Decaying skin and matted hair, all distorted and demonic. Fuller continued to wander down the hallway, saying hello to everyone he walked past. I pushed myself off the wall and watched him go. For now.

 _Got ya!_

* * *

 _ **Later That Evening**_

Martin had joined me in the hallway, and we were doing our best to _not_ look like we were loitering while we waited for Beth. There was a clock on the wall, ticking the seconds away into minutes. I felt on edge, jittery and excited all at once. I wanted to get on this hunt so damn badly I could almost taste it. It felt good to have some control, to be on the offensive rather than the defense, and to have a plan.

After what seemed an eternity, Beth rounded the corner and sauntered casually up to us, placing a kiss on my cheek. She slipped a silver letter opener into my hand, and simultaneously handed one to Martin.

"I had to raid three nurses stations to get there," she explained. "They're only silver plated, but they should work."

As we spoke, Wendy, the pretty blonde from yesterday walked toward us with a smile on her face.

"Oh, no, no, no. Not today, sweetheart," I protested, holding up my hand. "Come on, keep walking. I…"

I stopped short as Wendy walked straight up to Beth and took her face in her hands, kissing her the same way she just had me the day before. I watched, a little turned on if I'm being honest, and grinned at Beth when she pulled back to look in consternation at the woman.

"Now we're talking," I said with a tone of appreciation.

"I want her now," Wendy said to me. "She's prettier."

"Can't argue with that one little bit," I agreed, tossing a smile at Beth who glared at me. Wendy smiled and walked away.

"Hm," I said, shrugging at Beth. "What were you saying about…?"

"Dean!" Beth scolded. "So _not_ the time. Fuller is on call tonight, so we'll have to hit him after lights out. All three of us."

Martin startled beside her, looking up in consternation. "What? No."

"Martin, we gotta get past security, past the orderlies, and then cut the boss-man's throat, okay? It's gonna suck start to finish, but we could use the backup," I pointed out.

"Oh," Martin said, continuing to shake his head. "I can't. I can't." He started to walked away, Beth turning to look at him.

"We know what happened in Albuquerque," she said gently. Beth and Sam, they both had that way with people. I was a little jealous if I was being completely honest. When Beth spoke, her tone of voice, the words she chose… it was like she was speaking to someone's soul.

Martin stopped at what she said, his shoulders slumping. "You don't know the half of it," he said, turning around with a sigh. He looked sad, and tired. "God, I used to be just like you two. I used to think I was invincible, and then...Well, I found out I'm not."

"Martin, you're still a hunter," I said.

"No. I'm not," Martin replied. "I'm useless. Why do you think I checked myself into the Hotel California? I'd give anything to help you kids, I would. But, I-I can't. I'm sorry. I can't." He turned and walked away, leaving us standing in the hallway, armed with nothing but silver plated letter openers and a stubborn attitude.

* * *

 _ **Later that night**_

We'd successfully slipped past the guards and rounded the hallway to Dr Fuller's office. The horizontal lines, silhouetted against the stark walls of the building from venetian blinds, were starting to get to me. I wanted to scream, they made me so uneasy.

Beth led the way into the office, stopping when she realised that Fuller wasn't there. I stepped up to his desk, noticing a set of car keys on his desk and picking them up.

"He's still in the building,' I said, glancing over my shoulder. "Car's still here. You take the west wing. I'll take the east."

Beth nodded, and without further ado exited the room going right. I did the same, taking the left hallway. I didn't like it, but it would be faster if we split up.

There was nothing much going on in the east wing. I couldn't quite understand why I still allowed to be roaming. I guess it wasn't quite lights out yet, and better still, no one had noticed me. All of a sudden, I heard footsteps racing toward me, I backed into a dark alcove and waited.

Would it be the wraith? I waited to see Fuller cross my line of sight, and had to stop myself from stabbing Martin when he appeared. He looked distressed, his face worried and freaking out at the same time.

"Martin!"

"Dean! Thank god. You need to come right away," Martin said.

"Right, did you find him?" I answered, stepping in line with him.

"No, no, but Beth did…"

"Did she get him?!"

"No! That's just it. It isn't him, Dean. It wasn't Fuller, Beth cut his arm and it didn't react to the silver!" My stomach was sinking. What the hell was he talking about?

"Martin," I said, very carefully. "Where… is my wife?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! They locked her in her room, she's in a lot of trouble Dean."

My blood ran cold, and I ran. I saw a couple of orderlies leaving her room as I rounded the corner, so I waited for them to get out of sight and then let myself in.

She was sitting on the bed, free to get up, but the look on her face told me she was incapable of it. Beth smiled lazily at me as I entered the room, closing the door behind me.

"You okay?" I asked, sitting next to her on the bed and reaching out a hand to touch her cheek.

 _If anyone had touched a hair on her head…_

"No," Beth replied, shaking her head at me, her hair falling around her face. My heart stopped and a rage boiled up inside me. "No, I'm not okay…" I looked at her, anguished that I'd failed to protect her again.

"I … I am... _awesome!"_ I looked at her, seeing the dilated pupils, the happy smile. _Ah!_

"They give you something?" I asked.

"Oh yeah…" Beth answered, nodding her head up and down like a bobble doll. "They gave me…. everything! It's… spectacu-lacular…" She laughed, her head dropping back against the wall as she stared at the ceiling like she was seeing a fantastic scene before her. Hell, for all I knew, she was.

I chuckled at her, feeling the panic lessen the more she spoke. "You always were a happy drunk, Tinkerbell."

She chuckled a little, her head lolling to one side and then she made eye contact with me. Her eyes grew serious and she sat forward, grabbing my arm.

"Dean… the doctor… wasn't the wraith!"

"I know,' I said.

Her eyes widened, stunned that I knew this before she'd spoken to me. I started to explain that I'd run into Martin, but then her gaze shifted again, starting to space out as she smiled and looked around the room.

"I don't understand it. I mean, I saw it in the mirror. It wasn't human," I said, thinking it over. I hadn't made a mistake, I was _sure of it._

"Or you're seeing things," Beth said in a sing-song voice. "Maybe… maybe… maybe you're going crazy." Her eyes widened, looking at me in horror.

I scowled at her, wanting to roll my eyes. "I'm not crazy," I said.

"Please, Dean… come on," she scoffed, a little laugh escaping her. She grasped my shoulder and leaned forward as if she was going to tell me a secret. "I mean, you've been at least … half crazy for a while now... especially since you got back from Hell. Maybe before that even! I mean… we're in a … we're a mental hospital!" She looked around at the stark walls and shook her head. "We just had the week from Hell… and you know what you were like a few days ago."

I could feel the frown creasing my brow at what she was saying. I didn't like that she could doubt me like this. Beth laughed. "Maybe-Maybe you finally cracked! You know, maybe now you are really...for real...crazy…" The truth often came out when we were drunk, and never had I heard her worry about me being insane.

"I made a mistake," I said, feeling a little hurt. "That's all. I'll find the thing."

Beth's eyes turned all puppy dog like, what had she been taking lessons from Sam? "Of course! Yeah, yeah, yeah, babe. I know. I know. _I believe in you._ " Somehow it didn't sound as sincere coming from a drugged up Beth. I looked at the hand on my shoulder, she squeezed it reassuringly. "Hey, hey… look at me," she slurred, and I complied, raising my eyebrow at her.

"It's okay," she said. "Because you're my husband… and my _best friend…_ and the love of my life. I love you Dean."

I smiled at her, seeing the concern in her eyes. "I love y…"

"Boop!" She cut me off, tapping me on the end of my nose and smiling. I'd been right in the middle of the very thing I didn't say to her all that often, and she'd just booped me. I chuckled, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"Sleep it off, Tink," I said quietly, smiling as she giggled back at me and then flopped back on her pillow.

"Are you staying with me?" She asked, suddenly looking very vulnerable.

"With that thing on the loose out there?" I said, waving my hand at the door. "Wild horses couldn't drag me away."

She smiled, and I took a look around the room. It was impossible to see the bed from the doorway, excellent. Not that I cared either way, I'd been annoyed we hadn't been assigned a room together in the first place - Fuller as his _dangerously codependent_ bullshit. What the hell? I just needed to know she was safe… how was that codependent?

I waited for Beth to roll over on her side, and then slipped in behind her, pulling the covers up and wrapping my arm around her. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.

* * *

 _ **The Next Morning**_

Beth had woken up with a headache, and I couldn't say that I was surprised. I mean, those sedatives, or happy drugs, whatever they had given her had to have their side effects, right? I'd left her in the room, she was on lockdown, and until she managed to talk her way out of that I was on my own.

I was hungry. I walked down the hallway toward the cafeteria, my stomach growling, while keeping an eye on all the reflective surfaces around me, hoping to glimpse the real wraith.

As I rounded a corner, Cartwright was there waiting for me. Just waiting. She fell into step beside me as I continued to walk without greeting.

"You missed our session today," she started. I glanced sideways at her, feeling frustrated that she was still bothering to follow me. Couldn't she see that I was busy?!

"A little busy," I said.

"Still hunting that wraith?" She asked as we rounded another corner.

"People are dying." Couldn't she see that? Why the hell couldn't anyone else see what was going on here?

"People die all the time."

"Look, lady, why don't you just let me do my job, maybe save your life," I sneered at her.

"It's not my life that I'm worried about." She was slowing down, or I was walking faster, either way I was ahead of her, thinking it through. Was she serious? She was starting to sound like Bobby… or worse, like _Beth_ when she was seeing something in me that I couldn't.

"Oh, my G... I am fine, okay?" I snapped, turning to face her. "I'm fine."

An orderly sorting laundry down the hall looked up at our conversation, but after a look in his direction, he went back to doing his job. I turned back to Cartwright.

"Come on, even you don't believe that. All this pressure that you're putting yourself under, all this guilt; it's killing you. You can't save everybody," she said. I scoffed, shaking my head in denial.

"You can't," she reiterated, her voice become hard and cold, matching her expression. "Hell, these days, you can't save anybody, Dean." She turned to leave. I was more annoyed by the accusation than the fact that she somehow knew my real name.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"The truth, Dean," she replied, her eyes staring me down. "You got Ellen and Jo killed. You shot Lucifer, but you couldn't gank him." I backed away a little. How did she know this stuff? "You couldn't stop Sam from killing Lilith, and-oh, yeah-you broke the first seal. All you do is fail. Did you really think that you, Dean Winchester with a GED and a give-'em-hell attitude, was gonna beat the devil?"

She smirked while I glanced around me, hoping to see an anchor, something that could pivot me back to where I'd just been, when my identity was my secret to hold, not a part of my psych profile.

"Please. The world is gonna burn, and there is nothing that you can do about it," Cartwright finished.

"Who are you?" I asked louder, trying to scare her. "How do you know that stuff?!"

The orderly looked up at me, and frowned. "Hey, settle down."

"Tell me!" I continued, ignoring the orderly and speaking to Cartwright who had infuriatingly fallen silent. I wasn't a failure, I couldn't be… too much was riding on me getting this right. On saving Sam, saving Beth….

The orderly walked around the cart he'd been working at and approached me, his hands in the air. "I said, settle down," he repeated.

I looked at him, my eyes darting between the orderly and Dr Cartwright.

"Who are you?" I said softly. She smiled. I looked at the orderly, pointing to Cartwright. "Who is she?"

"Who?" He asked, looking at me in confusion.

"What are you, blind?" I asked, pointing to the silent doctor once more. "Her!"

The orderly frowned, shaking his head at me. "Pal, there's nobody there."

I stared at him in surprise, and confusion, looking back at Cartwright who was smiling at me in a twisted amused manner, as if she was getting a kick out of confusing me.

"I'm not real, Dean. I'm in your head...because you are going crazy," she said.

 _No._

 _No, I couldn't be. Not after everything…_

I backed away from her, looking around the hallway, and when I turned around Cartwright was gone, and the orderly was looking at me with concern.

 _I'm going crazy!_

"Just leave me alone," I said to him, and stalked down the hall in the other direction.

 _I have to get out of here. I need to … I have to… if I talk to Beth, maybe she… no - she will just laugh, because she knows. She already_ knows _I'm losing my mind, she said it last night! She can always see what I don't see in myself. This time it was crazy._

 _I have to get somewhere safe. Where? Could I just leave? Wait… I shouldn't leave. There's a reason I'm here. What was it? Oh!_

I passed a mirror and saw a wraith.

 _The wraith. Oh! Oh no!_

I backed away from it, nearly running into the happy nurse from episodes #enterthenuthouse and #sexinthemorgue. She was talking to another nurse. I looked up in the overhead mirror, and both of them looked like wraiths.

 _Ah!_

 _I have to get somewhere safe. I need to find Beth. I need to… oh my freaking god they're everywhere!_

I passed two patients, they both looked at me, their faces withered and freakish like a wraith's true form.

 _I'm losing it. I am seeing monsters everywhere. Is this whole place infested with them?! Maybe that's why no one suspects a thing. They're all in on it!_

 _Or…._

 _Or I'm going crazy. Maybe Fuller is right - there are no monsters. Only the monsters within, and the nightmares we allow them to create. I need to get away._

I hurried around the corner that led outside to the laundry. It was locked. I pulled on the handle, trying to get it to budge, but nothing. Backed into a corner, I did the only thing I could think of.

 _Make myself as small target as I can. I need to crouch here, just here, they won't find me here._

* * *

 _ **A short while later**_

They'd moved me, back to the checkers table that I liked so much. It felt good here, with the black and red checkered board in front of me. I sat with my hands in my lap, rocking softly. It felt good. The white stark wall in front of me was soothing. It helped me not feel so afraid.

I felt exposed, but no one would show me back to my room. I was lost. _I'm going crazy._

Suddenly I saw Beth enter the lounge, but I didn't even say hi. She stalked toward me, her brown eyes full of concern and worry, and then she stopped short before she even reached me.

"What's wrong?" She asked nobody in particular. But when I glanced in her direction, I could see her talking to … no one.

 _She's going crazy too._

"What?" Beth asked, looking hurt. Then she started to spin around, her eyes flashing from one point to the other as she moved back and forth.

"No!" She called out. "You don't understand!" Then she started punching thin air. One right hook, a couple of left jabs, I watched, worried, but unable to get up. If I moved, they'd see me. They'd know I was crazy. I had to keep a low profile. It was safer.

Beth took a couple more swings at nothing before two orderlies came to try and stop her. One man grabbed her, and she reacted.

"Leave me alone!" She cried out, swinging wide and hitting him in the stomach. Both orderlies grabbed her by the arms. I clasped my hands, rocking back and forth.

 _I should do something. No, I should stay right here. If they see me, they'll know!_

"Leave me alone!" Beth yelled. "Leave me alone! No! Stop it! Dean! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I didn't do it! Get off of me!"

I watched them drag her away down the hall. Beth kicking and screaming the whole way.

"What's happening?" I asked myself quietly. "What's happening?"

 _What's going on here? She was acting crazy too. Crazier than me! What's happening. Something isn't right._ It hit me at once, we were _both_ crazy!

I had to get out of here. I had to find.. I had to find Martin! He'd know. He knew us. He's see the connection. I stood up.

 _Right. Now where exactly is Martin?_

I wandered through the corridors, looking in windows. I couldn't recall the way to his room, everything seemed to be looping on me, every shadow a lurking place for a monster that didn't exist.

 _It's all in my mind._

But the more I looked at the crazy, at what I knew in my heart to be true, the more I saw what was happening.

 _No! There is a monster here. Crazy is the clue. Find Martin._

Martin was so little a threat they didn't even lock his door. I entered the room and saw him sleeping on the bed. I stepped forward, intending to shake him awake and he turned! Martin thrust forward a silver letter opener, and I stopped short.

"Martin!" I said. "Martin, it's me, it's Dean."

Martin lowered his blade, and I put a hand to my forehead, taking a few deep breaths.

 _Crazy old man just tried to kill me!_

"Oh, sorry," Martin said, adding, "you… you look like Hell, boy."

"I… I feel like it, too," I nodded at him, taking another breath.

"Where's Beth?"

"Lockdown!" I said. As soon as the words tumbled out of my mouth I felt the anxiety and fear return. "She went crazy! Thank God."

"What?" Martin asked, looking at me with a confused expression.

"I'm going crazy too," I said to him, stepping closer and gripping his shoulder. "I'm seeing things. I'm hearing things. I mean, we both are. Crazy is the clue."

"What do you mean?"

I looked into the corner of the room, wondering if it could hear my thoughts. Whatever _it_ was. Should I even be saying any of this to Martin. What was I hoping to achieve here? I was exactly where I needed to be.

"Dean!" Martin snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I jerked back, surprised by the sudden closeness. I stepped away and frowned, my earlier thoughts lost.

"Crazy is the clue," I repeated.

"You said that. What?" Martin asked again.

 _Oh right. He doesn't know what is going on. He's not crazy. Not really. Which is the clue._

I took a breath, and looked at him. "I mean, the things that me and Beth have done, the stuff that we've seen, we're gonna end up going guano eventually. Probably end up like a couple of drooling nut bags." I froze for a moment, realising where I was and how Martin had reacted earlier to our nutjob references. "No offense," I added quickly, seeing him shrug.

"None taken."

I continued, because there was a point to be made and crazy or not… I was gonna make it. "But me and her, freaking out on the same day? I mean, it's gotta be…"

"The monster…" Martin said.

My heart jumped. "What? Where? Where?!" I cried out, spinning around to look at the shadows, ducking down beside Martin's bed to make myself a smaller target.

"No... " Martin said. "It's not, no, there's nothing there," he said, seeing me looking into the corner of the room.

"Okay," Martin said. "What if this thing doesn't just feed on the insane? What if it makes people insane? Is it possible? Does that seem real?"

I thought about it. The last wraith we'd seen, well… the _only wraith…_ it hadn't happened. But I remembered something Dad had said… something about …

"Well, I'm not the most reliable source on what is real, but I do remember Dad saying something about hallucinations. Me and Beth, we didn't have them…. Dad said we got lucky."

"That seems plausible," Martin nodded.

"Okay. Okay. So-so we got infected. You know, something shot us up with crazy. You know, something…" I started to think about the things that could be. Spirits. They had the ability to influence our minds, reaching out to us from beyond the grave. I'd failed big time this week, Dad would have never understood… maybe….

"Maybe...maybe it's the ghost of my dad…" I said to Martin, who frowned in reply.

"No. Focus on the wraith, Dean. Focus."

 _Oh right!_

"Right, the wraith, the wraith," I stood up and started to pace the room. "Okay. So the wraith, the wraith, it-it poisoned us. It….Yeah. Maybe with venom, you know? By-by touch...or-or venom, or saliva…"

 _Oh my god!_

"Wendy," I said, realising what had happened.

"Wendy?" Martin asked.

"Wendy. Wendy slobbered all over me and Beth! That's how we got infected!"

 _I had to go find her. I had to kill her… the monster… the wraith. I would cure us._

Ten minutes later, Martin and I were rushing down the hallway toward Wendy's room. He was still uncertain about what I was saying, but I was sure. It _had_ to be her!

 _First I have to survive this…_ I thought to myself, taking another step to the left. _Phew, that was a close one!_

"Dean?" Martin asked, looking back at me with a concerned look. I glanced down at my feet, strategically placed in the middle of the linoleum tiles on the floor. I wasn't touching any lines. I was a hero at this.

"I can't step on the cracks," I said, by way of explanation for my behaviour. Martin threw me an exasperated look and then we heard a scream. The lines no longer mattered.

I followed my instincts, all the way to Wendy's room. The door was unlocked. I shouldered it open, and stumbled into the room.

On the bed was Wendy, her wrists slit. And over her…. Sitting on the bed was Little Miss Happy Nurse.

 _Made it to episode three did you nurse?_

I looked in the mirror over the bed, and saw a withered old crone, then looked back at the Nurse.

"Is this real?" I asked Martin who had rushed in behind me.

I saw Nurse Happy withdraw her hand from beside Wendy's head. There was the skewer they used to feed, like the one I had seen so many years early when one had tried to spike my skull and take a slurp of my brains. As I watched, horrified, the Nurse licked it clean before it receded into her wrist.

"Oh, it is, Sugar. It's very real," she said with a smile.

She moved fast. Faster than I was expecting, shoving me with the palm of her hand and sending me flying into the wall. I groaned, sliding to the ground as Martin attacked with his letter opener. He too was thrown, this time through the door and out into the hall. The Wraith pinned me as I was climbing to my feet, her hand closing around my throat, the other hand punching me in the guts a few times.

I groaned with every hit, _how does she know just where to hit?_ Damn monster! Martin attacked again, running at her with his blade, but she was on to him, putting up her hand to shield herself… dropping me and I slid to the floor again. The blade sliced through the wraith's hand and she screamed in pain, her skin instantly sizzling from the silver. She ran out of the room, slamming the door and locking it behind her. I tried to stand, the room was spinning, but I got to my feet while Martin checked on Wendy.

"She's still alive," Martin said.

I stumbled around the room. It was blurred and moving, I couldn't get my footing under me. I fell into a wall, and then I heard a voice.

"Dean? Can you hear me? Dean!"

 _Dad? I can't do it Dad…._

It was Martin. I focused on the sound of his voice, and the technicolour dream started to swim into some semblance of order. "You've gotta get out there and kill that thing. I'll take care of her." He was standing over Wendy, a sheet pressed to her wounds.

"I can't," I said, shaking my head.

"You have to," he said to me. "You have no choice, son."

 _Son._

 _Dad._

 _I failed them Dad. All of them._

 _The world is going to burn and it's all my fault._

The door unlocked, I pressed myself up against the wall. They spotted Martin first, walking in and grabbing him. Martin started to struggle, and then called out.

"Go. Dean, run! Run! Find Beth!"

 _Beth!_

I pushed myself off the wall and ran away from the commotion in the room straight into a big old house of mirrors. Or so it seemed. The hallway spun, up, down, fragmented… it was trippy, and scary as hell. The lights, bright… spinning. I covered my eyes, looking down at the floor.

Blood.

I followed the trail, droplets along the linoleum. Some of them landed on the lines. _That can't be good._ I stumbled after them.

 _Gotta get her._

 _Get who?_

 _The wraith!_

I tripped, fell to my knees, and felt blood smear across my palm as I landed in it. Martin had hurt her.

 _Good!_

 _Where am I going?_

 _Beth._

 _Was she going after Beth?_

I needed that knife. What knife? This knife? I felt in my robe and pulled out the silver letter opener Beth had found earlier.

 _Beth._

 _Lockdown._

 _Where was the lockdown?_

 _Follow the blood._

Finally I could hear voices. The hallway was still spinning. I saw a door, a white light shining out the window.

"You did this to me!"

 _That was Beth's voice!_

I hurried to the window. Beth was cuffed by her wrists and ankles to a bed in the centre of the room, fighting against her restraints, looking like she wanted to murder the woman smiling down at her.

"Well, I helped. But that rage? No, no, no. That's all you," said the Wraith. I looked through the window, psyching myself up. "I don't make crazy. I just crank up what's already there." She sat down on the bed beside Beth.

"You build your own hell, but I give you the Legos. And when you're ripe…" She popped out the skewer from her wrist and moved it beside Beth's head. I saw the fear in Beth's eyes, and I shoved the door open.

"...I make all of your problems disappear." The wraith said.

I stumbled into the room. "You get away from her!" I yelled. I was furious.

I'd failed Jo, and Ellen, but be damned if I was going to let this go down!

It was enough to get her away from the bed. The wraith stood up carefully and turned to look me over. "Do you really think this is gonna end well for you, kiddo?"

"No," I said, shaking my head but pulling out the silver blade just the same. "But I'm crazy, so what the hell?" I finished it off with a lunatic smile.

She chuckled at me, the skewer disappearing back into her arm. I made my move, attacking and swinging the blade at her. She ducked, and once again I felt myself thrown against the wall.

 _Oof!_

Not enough though. I'd been thrown by the devil and lived, dammit, I wasn't going to let a puny little wraith take me out. I climbed to my feet, swinging wide this time, she grabbed my arm, again I hit the wall. I dropped the blade.

"Dean!" Beth called out, I looked over and saw her watching helplessly from the bed, struggling against her restraints.

Before I knew it, the wraith had me again, picking me up like I was nothing more than a sack of potatoes, and throwing me into the wall on the opposite side of the room. I felt the wind get knocked out of me. The bitch was strong. She pinned me by the throat, raising her other hand over me and shooting out the skewer. I grabbed at her wrist… fighting… I had to get…

The skewer was moving closer and closer to my brain. I felt like I had dejavu all over again. This time the wraith was stronger, I didn't want to admit it.

As it got closer, I grunted and pushed back as hard as I could, but she had the upper hand. I moved my hand, all attention on that skewer, and I grabbed it. With a twist of my wrist, I snapped it off, hearing the sick squelch of it breaking, and blood squirting out.

The wraith let me go, screaming in pain as she stumbled backwards. I looked at the skewer in my hand, shuddering and dropping it. _Gross!_ A howl of rage, and I saw her running toward me, her face contorted in fury. I felt around on the floor, my hand coming into contact with my blade. As she raced toward me, I brought it up and shoved it deep into her chest, hitting the heart. She gasped, choking up blood, and then fell backwards against the wall, the silver burning around the wound.

The room started to come back together. Walls stopped blurring, the lights seemed a little dimmer, and Beth.

 _Beth!_

I shook my head, seeing her watching me.

"You still crazy?" She asked. I climbed to my feet, smiling at her and moving to release the cuffs around her wrists.

"Not any more than usual," I said. "We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah," she nodded, sitting up as I moved to undo her ankle cuffs.

As I finished, a klaxon sounded. I pulled her off the table, helping her to stand, and glanced at the dead wraith. It was definitely time to go, I had no idea how we'd explain this to the authorities.

* * *

 _ **Outside**_

We burst out the side door to our freedom. I had a moment to think about how Martin was going to handle everything, but then I realised, he could just blame it all on us - he was in the clear. I ran behind Beth as she led the way to where we'd left through the car park and into the woods, where we'd hidden the Impala out of sight on a tiny little back dirt road..

"Well, looks like Tom Cruise was right. Shrinks suck," I joked. It was a relief to be out of there. A relief to no longer have to worry about whether or not we could be locked up for the truth. To never see Beth again… because someone wanted to prove we were wrong? I shuddered to think. I rounded the car, opening the driver's door, and looked back at Beth who was hesitating at the trunk.

"What are you doing?" I asked, seeing the look of distress on her face. "Babe? You okay?"

She shook her head sharply, I turned, taking a step toward her.

"No. No I'm not okay Dean, I'm not at all. The wraith…"

 _If it had harmed a hair on her head … I would…._ I felt the rage, and worry bubble up inside of me, making it hard to breath.

"What about her?" I asked. Now I was starting to worry.

"She was right," Beth said.

 _Phew. She wasn't hurt, she was just… overthinking again._ "No, she wasn't," I replied. "She's dead, okay? Let's hit the road. I need a drink, or twelve." I turned back to the car.

"She was right, Dean," Beth's voice broke slightly. If she had any idea of what that _did_ to me, she'd be devastated. I _hated_ to see her in pain.

"Most of the time, I can hide it, but...I'm angry. I'm mad at everything." Beth continued. "I have been for a long time. I used to be mad at… you know, at Dad for keeping us apart, while he was going behind our backs sleeping with Cole."

 _Oh...damn. She was going way back now._

"Beth…" I took a couple of steps toward her, raising my hand in a comforting gesture.

"And that bitch Meg for … for killing the baby. _Our baby_ , Dean. I'm mad at Dad for leaving us behind, I'm mad at Ruby for Sam and the demon blood… and Lilith for tricking him. And… and you…"

 _Me?_ I stepped closer. _It is finally happening. She's breaking. Maybe … maybe this was never about me returning to the hunt, maybe it was about her. She had lost more than most of us in the last few years, lived through the hardest lessons. Am I about to lose her?_

"Hey," I said, struggling for words. "Stop."

Beth's face fell, she was fidgeting, moving from one foot to the other. She took a breath and ran her fingers through her hair, turning exasperated eyes to me.

"I can't," she said. "Dean I can't. I'm _so angry."_

"With me?"

It was my worst nightmare. But she deserved to be. She nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself and let out an agonising groan.

"For going to Hell?" I continued. It had to be it.

"Yes. No! _I don't know_ , Dean. I brought that one on myself, I get that. But you… you lied to me." She didn't want to say it, I could see the way she was fighting with herself, not wanting to bring it up. She chewed on her lower lip, arms still tightly wrapped around herself. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and kiss away the pain. But… I was the reason for it. How could I help her now? Did she even want me to?

I opened my mouth to speak, but there simply were no words.

"Ruby," she said first. The one word froze me to the core. "You knew," she continued. "You knew who she was and you didn't tell me. She killed my family, Dean. She possessed me, and forced me to … to…"

Her arms dropped down, and the tears started to fall in earnest. I watched the too familiar act of her starting to wring her hands, the blood of her actions only visible to her. My heart skipped a beat. _No._ Running to her side, I caught her as her legs gave out and she sank to the ground.

I moved with her, both of us falling to our knees on the hard gravel and I pulled her into my arms, squeezing her to me. "No. No no no no Beth. Stop it. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't."

"You knew it was her and you protected her! You didn't tell me, you didn't tell Sam!" She fought against my hold, her hands moving between us and pushing against my chest. I didn't let go, I couldn't look her in the eyes.

 _I screwed up again._

"I'm sorry. I know. I should have," I said, squeezing my eyes shut and wishing I could just go back in time… make it right.

Beth sobbed into my shoulder, I held her, just like she had me only days earlier. After a moment when she pushed away, I let her pull back. She looked at me, her eyes rimmed with red from her crying.

"What am I supposed to do with that Dean? How … I mean.… you and Sam, you're everything to me. And you've both … hurt me so much." She looked small, and I sucked in a breath, my heart breaking at the sight of her. I'd promised to never harm her, to always protect her, yet here I had done the worst possible thing. I had been trying to keep her safe… but I'd only drive the knife into her back.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, seeing fresh tears glimmer in her eyes again.

"I know!" She sobbed. "I know Dean. Sam is too." She slid her arms around me and tucked her face in against my shoulder. She was so close I could feel the shuddering breaths wracking through her body.

"I know and I love you. I love you both, which is why I … why I forgive you. But… I'm still so _angry_."

I wrapped my arms around her again, holding. I never wanted to let go. _How could I fix this? Could I? Did I deserve her forgiveness?_ I needed her so badly, I couldn't imagine her gone, broken, and me being the reason. _How do I fix this?!_

"I'm here," I said finally, burying my nose into her hair and kissing her head. "I know I wasn't, and you needed me to be. I failed you. I failed Sam. I failed Dad."

"Noooooooooooooo," Beth wailed, her head moving as she shook her head, her hands balling against me as she beat my back softly in protest. "I did, Beth. But I'm trying. I'm trying to be a better man. For you. For everyone. But you tell me what you wanna do, what you need me to do to make this better, and I'll do it."

She cried.

Bitter, heart wrenching sobs that left me empty.

 _I'd done this. Me alone. I'd hurt the one person I'd ever truly loved more than myself._

"We already killed that bitch Ruby. I know it's not enough." I pulled back, my hands coming to her shoulders as I met her eyes. "You want to fight me? Hit me? Take it out on me?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Okay," I nodded, taking a breath. "Okay, good. Because you'd probably win, you know that right?"

She forced a little smile, and I felt a touch of relief. I let all the love I felt for her show through my eyes, feeding her soul with how sorry I was that I'd done this to her, that I'd betrayed her in such a devastating way.

After a moment, she nodded at me, her breath starting to slow.

"Okay. Well then that's what we're gonna do," I said while she calmed down and watched me.

"We're gonna take all that crap and we're gonna bury it. We're gonna do exactly what Dad said … we're gonna keep moving, fighting, we're gonna forget about it, because that's how we keep going! That rage? You use it for the hunt, you don't let it consume you like a fire. That's how we don't end up like Martin! Are you with me?"

Beth looked down at her hands, silent.

"Come on, babe. I need you with me," I said softly. "I'm sorry. I am. I can only promise you to never do something like that again. Okay? I can't live without you Beth. You're everything. We're a team and I need you with me. Please."

I'd never begged for anything in my life. But I would now. The thought of losing her now, after everything we'd been through. It was a bigger failure than anything else I'd ever been through. I could live with how I'd let Dad down, how I'd failed Sam, I didn't like it but I could. I used it, just like I said, to fuel me and take me further. But to lose Beth after all these years…. That was more than I could bear.

After a moment she looked at me, and I saw a new determination. "I'm with you," she said, nodding.

I pulled her into my arms again, my heart almost beating out of my chest.

"Thank you," I whispered into her ear. "I love you so much, Beth."

She pulled back to kiss me, her hands caressing the side of my face, trembling with emotion. When we broke apart, I could see that she wasn't fixed, not even close, but she was holding together.

"Let's get out of here," she said, starting to climb to her feet. I felt a stab of hurt that she hadn't returned my declaration of love. Had I really broken her that much? Could she ever trust me again?

 _You hurt everyone you love Dean. You're a failure._

I followed her back to the car, silently contemplating everything I'd done as I slid into the driver seat. After a moment Beth opened the passenger door and climbed in, scooting along the bench seat until she was pressed against me. It had been a long time since we'd ridden like that.

I started up the car, looking sideways at her, and she lay her head on my shoulder, slipping her arm through mine, her hand coming to rest against my inner thigh.

"I love you too, Dean," she whispered finally. "Today, tomorrow, and forever." Those had been our vows. The relief of hearing those words washed over me like a soft, Summer rain.

I put the car into gear, easing us along the road and back to the main highway. Once we were free of Stillwater, I pointed us in the direction of Chicago, and let the car go. Beth settled in beside me, her eyes drooping from exhaustion. I didn't know what we'd find when we caught up to Sam, or where we were going next, but one thing was for damn sure - I wasn't leaving anyone behind.

"Forever," I echoed Beth's earlier words, feeling a smile tug at the corner of my mouth, beside me Beth let out a pleased little grunt, nuzzling into my arm. Little did she know how true those vows were for me.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

Song for this chapter is Pink's _Beautiful Trauma._

Don't forget we have a Facebook page too. I'm always looking for people who want to contribute fanart or fanvids if you're interested in collaborating on something! The Facebook page is called Dean&Beth Supernatural, if you do a search for that we should come up.

Big thanks as always to the people who unfailingly keep me going when it comes to my writing. I can't wait to unveil the Sam sidestory that my friend Bubbles90 is currently writing, but we have a little way to go before that's released - more when it gets closer!

I'm hoping to get an update out for _Where Angels Fear To Tread_ this month, and maybe even make a start on the _Jefferson Chronicles_ as he's finally given me the missing puzzle pieces to his backstory :D Yay!

Welcome to all the new readers, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Welcome to the Bean Fandom :D

Big hello and lots of love to everyone who has stuck through my unannounced hiatuses, thank you for believing in the story and sticking with me! I hope I'm doing it justice. As always your continued reviews and PMs keep me going, and I appreciate each and every one of them!

I look forward to reading your feedback on this chapter! Please leave me a review or send a PM :)


	14. Meat Swap

_What about us?  
_ _What about all the times you said you had the answers?  
_ _What about us?  
_ _What about all the broken happy ever afters?  
_ _What about us?  
_ _What about all the plans that ended in disaster?  
_ _What about love? What about trust?  
_ _What about us?_

* * *

 **SWAP MEAT**

* * *

 _ **Housatonic, MA**_

 **Beth's POV**

I stared at a picture on the wall, one of the woman we were visiting, Donna, and her husband and daughter. They were smiling at the camera, arms wrapped around each other, the teenage girl in a baseball uniform. It was a bittersweet photo to me, reminding me of all the photos of me and my Dad, that I'd thrown in a box and left in storage at Bobby's. This girl was about the same age I had been when my Dad died, and she had been experiencing problems that _we_ fixed.

Looking around the room, I saw a home that was not unlike any of the others where we ran to the rescue of simple, ordinary families. It was stuffed full of furniture that was mismatched, yet clearly loved - two sofas facing each other across a coffee table, a sideboard with mementos from the family - special china, trophies, framed photos, and little knick-knacks. It reminded me a little of our house in Blue Earth, except that we hadn't really had a chance to make that our own - it still housed much the same furniture and belongings that had been Pastor Jim's before his passing. The few months Dean and I had spent there, before going after Sam again, hadn't been enough for us to put our personal touch on it. Truth be known, I wasn't even sure what that was beyond hunting, it had been a long time since I'd lived in an actual _home._

Dean and Sam were perched on a sofa opposite the girl, Katie, both quite keen to be here. Donna walked back into the room from the kitchen, and put a pitcher of lemonade and some cookies on the coffee table between the two sofas, taking a seat beside her daughter. Sam leaned forward a bit as soon as everyone was settled. I watched them from the corner of my eye, how they gravitated to Donna almost like a moth to a flame. She'd been a mother figure to them when they were really young, and Dean couldn't have driven fast enough to get here once we received the call.

"So, how long has it been?" Donna asked, smiling through tired eyes. She had to be in her early fifties now, long curly blonde hair tinged with grey, a few smile lines either side of her eyes. She was happy here, with her family, she was not someone cut out for monsters.

"The summer before 6th grade," Sam said.

"Mmm, I remember. You assigned yourself your own reading list," Donna said with a smile. Dean chuckled next to Sam on the sofa, looking back at me.

"That's right," he said. "I forgot about that." He inclined his head, gesturing for me to join them on the couch. He had been keen to introduce me, of course Donna had known about me - from John - but we'd never met in person.

"Your mom happens to be the best babysitter we ever had," Sam said to Katie, who smiled at her mom like she was seeing her through completely different eyes. I walked around the side of the sofa, and Dean scooted over to make space for me, smiling as I squeezed in beside him.

"Well, when I was a maid at the Mayflower, out on the interstate – long before you were even an idea, a little while before Beth joined them…" I smiled as she looked at me. She definitely knew more than she'd let on in the phone call. Had John filled in people on our situation when I joined them? All I knew is that by the time I'd joined them, I was almost sixteen, Dean was almost eighteen, so they'd no longer needed babysitters - Dean had been in charge when he was gone.

"Their daddy used to pass through town and leave the boys with me while he went off to... work. One time, he was gone for two weeks," Donna continued.

"Sounds about right," I said, raising an eyebrow at the boys. Sam's mouthed twitched, he'd never been happy when John left any of us for any extended period of time. Dean was silent.

"Two weeks?" Katie asked, looking incredulously at us.

"Mm-hmm. Oh, he'd always come limping back. He loved you boys," Donna said, smiling at Dean and Sam. Sam smiled, but squirmed a little on the sofa next to Dean, the latter's face was completely unreadable, like he didn't know what to say or do with that information. It was another bittersweet thing for the boys, especially Dean, to hear about how much John had loved them, all of us, from strangers… when he'd never said it to us.

"Did you know what he did all that time?" Katie asked. Donna shook her head, her smiled tinged with a touch of irony.

"Little Sammy kept trying to tell me. Of course, I didn't believe him" Donna said, Sam chuckled. "Not at first, anyway. In fact… I was surprised to hear you were all … in the business, when I called. And I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad."

Dean nodded solemnly, taking my hand and squeezing it, still silent.

"We're just doing our best to follow in his footsteps," I said softly, seeing Donna's eyes flick to our joined hands. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then Sam spoke.

"Katie, our dad, um, happened to be an expert at getting rid of ghosts. And now, so are we."

""That's why I called. They can help us." Katie smiled, still hesitant, and then looked up as her dad came into the room carrying two large suitcases that looked stuffed.

"Sounds like you guys got yourself a poltergeist," Dean finally spoke.

Peter put the suitcases down on the ground and then straightened up, nodding at Dean.

"Started a month or two after we moved in."

"Yeah, first it was, uh, just bumps and knocks and scratches on the walls. And then it started breaking things," Donna supplied.

"And then it attacked Katie?" I asked gently, looking at the girl. Donna nodded, glancing at her daughter.

"That was two nights ago," Peter said.

"Can you show them, honey?" Donna asked. Katie paused for a moment, and then pushed aside the crocheted blanket on her lap, standing and lifting her shirt so we could read the words cut into her skin. They were jagged, red, angry looking.

"Murderd Chylde," Sam said thoughtfully. I frowned at the spelling, that was old world… whatever was in this house, it was from a long time ago. Katie pulled her shirt back down and sat on the couch again, pulling the blanket back across her legs and looking uncomfortable.

"Katie, everything's gonna be fine. I promise," Dean said, leaning forward and looking at her with a very calm, determined expression. Katie nodded, smiling tentatively at Dean.

"Why don't you guys take yourselves a little vacation, and we will take care of the rest?" I said with a smile.

Donna sighed with relief and nodded. "Thank you."

As we left the house, she pulled me aside and looked at Dean walking down to the Impala. "John told me about you Beth," she said, "I used to call him and ask how the boys were. They were important to me."

"Yeah," I said, a sad smile playing on my face. "They have that effect on you."

"It's good to see Dean settled," Donna said, I gazed at her curiously.

"I wouldn't call him that," I said with a wry laugh.

"But he is, when he looks at you," she said. "You've done wonders for him. He was an angry young man when I saw him last. He's… calmer now, and it's clear it's because of you."

 _I'm the angry one now…_ I thought sadly.

"Do you think about settling down?" Donna asked, her eyes dropping down to my wedding ring. "Starting a family?"

I was almost thrown by the question, I didn't know what to say.

"I… uh... " I glanced at Dean, who was leaning on top of the car, watching us talking. "We talk about it, sometimes. The job can be… pretty demanding."

"I'm sure," Donna smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're all doing so well, and you're here to help us. Thank you again. And think about what I said… you kids deserve to have a place to call home."

I smiled, nodding and then skipped down the steps to meet the boys at the car. Dean tossed a curious look at me, and I rolled my eyes, dropping into the passenger seat as he got behind the wheel. Sam leaned forward from the backseat, grinning at me.

"Getting the protective mother speech?" He asked, and I snorted, shaking my head.

"Something like that…" I said, glancing at Dean. He was already starting the car and pulling out into traffic. "She thinks Dean should buy me a house, get me barefoot and pregnant," I joked, but it fell on deaf ears. Dean sighed, looking over at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Sam sensed the discomfort and chuckled, but then leaned back and pulled out his laptop, starting to do some searching.

"I'm starving," I said after a moment, "how about we stop somewhere, grab a bite to eat, and go over the case." Dean nodded, still silent, and before long we were at a burger chain.

* * *

 **Dean's POV**

Seeing Donna again had been … different. She looked good, and seemed happy. She had settled down, got a life to be proud of. The conversation she'd had with Beth as we'd left… it had been in the back of my mind since Oklahoma. Beth had been willing to give it all up, just like that. Lucifer, the Apocalypse… let it all go and move back to Minnesota - quit hunting, have a family, live a life that was not all life or death.

I was recalling a similar conversation I'd had with her, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Something I'd said to her when I'd found out that Mom had never wanted her kids raised as hunters. I'd looked at Beth after that conversation, and I'd known. I didn't want that for our children either. And I knew we would one day have them, angelic prophecy or not, it was just a matter of when.

It was only the fact that _I couldn't give her that_ right now , which had kept me from saying agreeing to Beth the few days earlier. Now was not the time. Sure, we'd be happy for a short while, we might start a family, but with Lucifer on the loose? Who were we kidding? Gabriel had this whole prophetic annunciation thing going on with Beth, giving her all these worried thoughts about whether or not we were in control of our lives, but at the end of the day, that angel was a few crayons short of the box. He certainly had another thing coming if he thought I was giving over my body to Michael.

A kid in a very patriotic red, white and blue star spangled uniform brought a tray of food to the counter, just as Beth walked around the corner from the restroom. I smiled at her, and then the kid called out our order.

"Uh, two bacon burger turbos, large chilli-cheese fries, uh, and a Health Quake Salad shake?" He had that in hand, and raised an eyebrow at Beth, holding it out to her.

Beth smirked and took it. "Does this look like something I'd eat? Really?" The kid's eyes dropped down to run the length of Beth's body, and I frowned. _He was totally checking her out!_ I rolled my eyes, stepping in and taking the tray from him.

"Yeah, uh…really. I know... but hu it's not hers," I said, shaking my head. Beth grinned, and led the way back to the table where Sam was sitting. She dropped the tall, plastic cup with a lid in front of Sam, while I put the tray and our food on table. We both sat opposite Sam, and started to unwrap our food while Sam applied dressing to his salad, putting the lid back on and then started to shake it vigorously. I stared at Sam as he continued to read the screen in front of him, shake shake shaking. After a moment he stopped, looking questioningly at me.

"Oh, you shake it up, baby," I said, rolling my eyes. He smirked and then started to shake the salad some more. I looked down and started to dig into my burger.

"You know, poltergeist aside, Donna looked pretty good, don't you think?"

Sam stopped shaking and stared at me, a little smile on his face. "Dude, don't tell me you've still got the hots for our babysitter."

"Ooooooh," Beth said, elbowing me. "Thought you liked brunettes?"

I tossed her an incredulous look, and then looked back at Sam. "What? No. That's weird," I said, even though he'd been right. I had always kind of liked her. I chucked, and then got back to my original point.

"I'm just saying that she, you know, she – she's – she's doing good. You know, with her husband, her kid. This whole Amityville thing being thrown at them, and they're hanging tough."

"Yeah," Sam nodded, looking thoughtfully down at his salad.

There was always one thing standing in the way of me retiring from hunting, and giving Beth the life I was starting to think she wanted.

Sam.

If we could just convince him that he should give it up…

"You ever think that you'd want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine?" I asked, hoping my voice sounded light and breezy, not like it was a loaded question.

Sam paused for a moment, looking from me to Beth, and then shook his head. "No, not really my thing anymore."

"What about you guys?" He asked.

I opened my mouth, glancing over at Beth and seeing her hesitate, her burger raised halfway to her mouth.

"I mean, you guys did it once," Sam said. "You could go back to Minnesota… have a couple of kids … get real jobs."

I snorted at that thought, but couldn't deny… it was so tempting. I knew what I'd do too… it was clear as day. It hurt me to say, but I would follow in Dad's footsteps there, I'd become a mechanic.

"You see us with real jobs, Sammy?" Beth asked after a moment.

Sam looked sadly at Beth. "Yeah, I can."

"Yeah, well. I wouldn't call a couple of months _retiring,"_ I said dismissively. "Maybe a nice vacation, but it was hardly enough time to see if we liked it." I glanced sideways at Beth but her face wasn't giving anything away. "First things first, what do you got?"

Sam's face briefly frowned at me, and I had a moment to consider that maybe he was pushing us toward going back to Minnesota. Well that was all well and good, but it was because of _him_ we weren't there right now, which made me want to smack him upside the head. Fortunately, he didn't comment, and instead looked back at the computer, getting down to the job.

"Uh, well, that house of theirs, it's old – really old. Um, hundreds of years. And I found a legend. It's unconfirmed, but still…"

"Saying?" I asked.

"Supposedly, in the 1720s, the house was owned by a guy named Isaiah Pickett," Sam replied, turning his laptop around to show us a website titled _Witchcraft_ with a lot of text and grimson scene of a hanging woman. "Legend has it he hung a woman in his backyard for witchcraft – a woman named Maggie Briggs."

"1720's would fit with the way child was spelled," Beth mused, and I looked sideways at her - I'd barely even noticed that.

"Okay, so an angry ghost witch?" I asked.

"If it's true," Sam said, "that still doesn't explain what 'Murdered Chylde' means."

Hmmm.

"No, or where the bitch is buried," I pointed out.

"You know, I mean, it's a long way back, but I can see if I can find something in the town records," Sam suggested.

I nodded. "It's worth a shot," I said before taking a big bite of my burger.

* * *

 _ **Later That Night**_

 **Beth's POV**

The town records, as it turned out, were in both the library and the town hall. The record storage had been moved around the mid 1700s but the archives stayed in their original location, meaning they could have been in _either place._ Dean had joined me in the library for a while; then, growing restless, he'd gone back to the motel to clean the guns.

As I was walking back to the motel, my phone rang. It was Dean. I answered with a smile, my step quickening just a little to get me back to the motel faster.

"Hey, miss me?" I asked.

Dean groaned. " _Always,"_ he replied. " _How's things coming along there?"_

"I'm done, there was nothing, most of the records I had were pre-1700s. I took a bit of a look through court records, unsolved mysteries, arrests… that sort of thing for something about a murdered child. But there was nothing that caused a big enough stir to make headlines."

" _Yeah well, that was a bit of a reach, could mean anything,"_ Dean replied.

"Yeah." I mused. "Would have been nice to have it handed to us though."

Dean laughed and agreed with me. " _Where are you?"_

"Not far now," I said, "you want anything?"

" _Food!"_ Dean said. " _I'm starving!"_

I laughed, thinking about his grumbling stomach. "I'll grab something on the way."

" _Great, thanks. Hey, have you heard from Sam?_ " He asked.

"No, why?"

" _He was on his way back like an hour ago, he didn't find anything either, but hasn't turned up yet."_

"That's not like him," I said, stopping. "I shouldn't be too much longer, if he's not back by then, we'll go look for him." I hung up and started to look around for a safe place to cross the street. The place we'd eaten earlier was still open, I could see the lights still on…

"Ow!" I felt a sharp pain to my neck, reaching up to feel a feathered dart sticking out of my skin. "What the...?"

Everything around me started to blur, I felt my legs give out beneath me. "No…" Then everything went black.

* * *

 _ **Some Time Later**_

 **Beth's POV**

I woke up to the sound of beeping machines, and the chatter of a couple of people nearby. I sat up, feeling my neck, and a fresh wave of pain through my body, and groaned. _What had just happened? Where was I?_

As I looked around, I saw my arm attached to a heart rate monitor, I ripped it off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, hearing the machine start to screech in protest. _Whoops._ Nurses from the station outside came running into the room, and then startled when they saw me.

"She's awake!" One of them, with blonde hair swept up into a messy bun atop her head, said. "Okay honey, just take it easy, you've had another seizure."

"Another seizure?" I asked, feeling confusion settle down on me. I'd never had a seizure in my life!

"Yes, it must have been a bad one this time, your sister found you not far from the library," said the other nurse, this one with gentle brown eyes and beautiful chocolate skin, approaching me with a kind smile. "Have you been taking your medication?"

"Medication…" I murmured, looking around. _What the hell was going on here?_ "I, uh…"

"Don't worry, your parents will be here shortly," they said to me. I blinked.

"My… my parents?"

"Of course, honey. They're worried sick about you!" Said the blonde. As if on cue, a dark haired man, mousey haired woman, and a young teenaged girl all clamoured into the room, speaking at once.

"You gave us a scare darling!" Said the woman.

"Are you okay?" Asked the man.

"You were supposed to meet me at cheerleader practice!" The girl said, frowning at me. "I'm missing Robert's party because of this!"

"Erica, your sister has just had a seizure, have a little compassion," the woman said, coming to brush her hand across my forehead. I flinched backwards, and stood up, moving back against the wall.

"Uh," I said, looking around at the complete strangers. "There's been some kind of mistake. If you could just get my phone… I need to call Dean."

"Dean? Who is Dean?" The man asked, looking to his wife for an explanation.

"We don't know anyone called Dean," the girl, Erica, said - her eyes narrowing at me in what seemed like a warning.

"Look, why don't we just take you home, the doctor says you're fine. You'll feel better in the morning," said the woman.

"No, I… I can't."

"Come on angel," said the man, raising his hand toward me. I stared at it, then looked up at him, feeling my stomach drop as my eyes met a mirror against the back wall.

I was staring back at a frightened looking version of… _Erica. Wait what was going on here? Who was that?!_

I gasped, and the sound stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Are you okay...sis?" Erica said.

"You're my twin?" I asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, half my luck," Erica sneered. "Will you just get dressed and stop being a pain?"

"Erica, be nice to your sister," The man said. "If we get home soon, you can still go to Robert's for an hour, if you want." I watched the girl's mouth drop open, and then she glanced at me, her eyes narrowing as she closed it.

"No, that's okay. There's fashionably late, and then there's just _lame,"_ she countered. "Come on Nora, let's go home."

 _What the hell was going on here?_

I nodded at them. _Anything to keep the peace._ "Okay, I uh… I just need some, privacy?" I said, gesturing to the hospital gown I was still wearing.

"Of course!" The man said. "We'll be right outside, okay angel?"

"Okay," I nodded.

As soon as they were gone, I started rummaging through the clothes that were in the closet, pulling on underwear, jeans, and a … _ugh…_ knitted sweater. I fumbled around, looking for some kind of ID… seeing a bag, and then pulling out a wallet.

" _Nora Prescott. Seventeen years old…"_ I murmured, looking at the photo ID, and the face staring back at me. _I'm in someone else's body! What the hell is going on here?_

I looked down at a phone in my bag, black, sleek, and swiped my finger across the screen. It came to life, no password. _Phew._ I dialed Dean's number immediately, listening to it ring out until voicemail.

"Dean!" I whispered urgently into the phone. "It's me, Beth. Something weird is going on. I'm… well I think I'm in some seventeen year old girl's body! Call me back right away!"

Panic clutched at my heart. I didn't like this at all, but if I was going to get to the bottom of whatever was happening, I'd have to play along.

I flipped through the phone, looking for clues, opening up the last text 'Nora' had received, from someone called Gary, a love heart emoji next to his name. I frowned, opening it, and felt my stomach sink.

 _Hey. It worked. Now it's your turn. The girl is at the library, feel like some extra homework?_

I hit dial, hearing the phone ring and then someone answered.

" _Hello?_ "

I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Sam?" I asked.

" _Uhhhh,"_ his voice cleared, and then deepened. _"Yes, this is Sam?"_

"Sam, thank god, Dean's not answering his phone! Where are you?"

 _"Uh, huh? Who is this?"_

"Uh, this is gonna sound weird, but it's Beth..." I said, holding my breath. He paused, and then he cleared his throat.

" _I think you have the wrong number. Sorry."_ He hung up. I stared at the phone in disbelief and rang back. This time the phone went to voicemail.

"Sam, what the hell? Why did you hang up on me? It's Beth! For God's sake, something is going on. Why do you have the phone of someone named Gary? Call me back, I think… I think I'm in the wrong body." I was whispering, because saying it too loudly might make it real, and much as I already _knew_ it was real, I was still holding out for this being a bad dream.

"Angel?" The man was back, peering tentatively around the privacy curtain. "Are you ready?"

It wasn't hard to smile at the genuine care in his voice. I pushed back the fear and anxiety in my chest and nodded at him, dropping the phone into my bag. "Let's go…" I said. "Dad."

He smiled at the 'Dad' and I breathed a sigh of relief. This was _insane!_ But the only way I was going to get any answers was to play along. I had to figure out just what had happened to Sam, and this mystery _Gary._

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

I was fuming as I got back to the motel. Underneath it all, I was worried though. It was one thing for Sam to go dark on us, disappear to corners unknown and do his own, sulky little emo thing. But Beth? I'd been ringing her phone for the last hour, and taken to the streets looking for them. There was no sign of either of them anywhere near the library or town hall, or on the streets to and from there.

I felt sick to my stomach.

So when I walked into the motel room and saw Sam, I was ready to lose my head.

"Sam!" I yelled, seeing him startle back from the bathroom door.

"Huh? Oh, hi," he said.

"Hi?" I asked, frowning at him. "Hi? Where the hell have you been? Beth's missing and…"

"No she's not," Sam cut in. I stopped short, listening. There was water running in the bathroom.

"Is she in the shower?" I asked, confused. "Wait, were you… were you just watching her?" My mouth dropped open and Sam seemed to blush.

"What?! No, of course not man," he said with a shake of his head.

"Well what are you doing loitering around the bathroom then? What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, but the feeling of relief that Beth was okay, that she was here, was enough to settle my mood. I shoved past him, and into the bathroom, seeing her out of the shower, reaching back in to turn off the water.

I sucked in a breath at how beautiful she always looked, especially _like this,_ and reached out to pull her into my arms, burying my face into the back of her neck. "You had me worried sick," I murmured into her skin.

Beth yelped, and pulled away, looking at me in surprise. "Oh, Dean!"

"Yeah, who else?" I asked, frowning at her.

"Sorry!" She pulled up the towel she was holding around her body. "You surprised me, I don't want you to get all wet."

I grinned at her. "Well… you know…"

"Dean I got us food!" Sam called out from the motel room and I sighed. I _was_ hungry. I let my eyes linger on Beth a little longer, she seemed to be holding her breath. I thought about how I'd like to make her lose it, and sighed in frustration.

"Later," I said. "When he's not around." Her eyes widened a little and she nodded her head. Satisfied, I walked out into the room where Sam was holding out a bag of food.

"I picked up some food. Bacon burger turbo, large chilli-cheese fry, right? Sorry, man. Really. I-I just –I ran into Beth at the burger place and we… lost track of time. We didn't mean to freak you out," he said.

I looked at the food and then grabbed it, nodding. "Thanks. Don't know why it took you both two hours, but thanks." I started to rummage in the bag, grabbing a fry and putting it in my mouth.

"Oh, you're gonna want to eat that on the road," Sam said, I frowned at him.

"Why?"

"The maid came in, saw that," he gestured to the guns I'd been cleaning, all laid out on the bed, "and now they're all kind of freaking out." I stared at him. How dumb could he get?

"Why'd you let the maid in?" I asked. That was like rule number one, douchebag.

"It just happened," he said with a shrug.

"Whatever," I said, shrugging. "I got to hit the head, and then we'll take off… _Beth!_ You done in there?"

Beth opened the door, walking out in fresh jeans and a blue shirt, buttoned down. She had tied her hair back in a braid because it was still wet.

"Yeah, yeah I'm done," she said, moving to the bed and looking at her phone.

"All right. I-I'll be outside," Sam said. I pushed into the bathroom and went about my business. I was already tired from chasing these guys all over town, and hungry, and now we had to change motels? _What the hell?_

Sam was sitting in the passenger seat when I got there. I hazarded a look at Beth, slouched in the back and frowned.

"Yeah, okay," I said, wondering what was bothering her. "You guys ready?"

"Absolutely," Sam said. "Hey, can I drive?"

 _Okayyyyy._

I looked at him, raising my eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

I sighed. Well it would be a good opportunity to get in the back with Beth and have a chat to her, see if I could figure out what was bothering her. "Yeah, okay, I guess."

I got out, Sam hurried around to the driver's seat, climbing in, while I moved to the back seat, settling next to Beth and looking at her.

"Hey, you okay?"

Beth nodded, glancing at me, but seeming to lean away from me slightly. I took her hand in mine, softly massaging it, and looking at her with a bit of worry.

In the front seat Sam was fiddling with things, and then started the car.

"You know," I said to Beth. "I know we've had a lot going on… and… well, that last case brought up some stuff."

"Don't...don't worry about it," she said to me. That's when I really started to worry.

"Yeah, but… we probably still need…"

"Oh this is so sweet!" Sam exclaimed suddenly, and revved the hell out of the car, _vroooom vrooooooom!_ And I startled, looking over the seat at him.

"You want to get the lead out, Andretti?" I asked, frowning. _What the hell is wrong with him?_ "Come on." I watched him put the car into reverse, and leaned forward. "Reverse," I pointed out to him. Sam started to put his foot on the gas, and I cried out. "Reverse!"

The tires squealed as the Impala shot backwards, I gasped as we hit something, spinning around to see a dumpster. Full bags of trash fell on the trunk of the car, leaving a mess. I growled and turned back to Sam who was sheepishly looking at me in the mirror.

"It's in reverse," I said, dropping Beth's hand and getting out to look at the damage. A few scrapes, nothing too bad. Sam joined me, apologetically glancing at me, his eyes a little wide.

"I am really, really sorry," he said.

"Shut up!" I snapped, moving around him and reclaiming the driver's seat. Sam jumped in the front and with a troubled glance at Beth, still in th eback seat, I peeled away from the curb.

This night could not end fast enough.

* * *

 _ **Nora's House  
The Next Morning  
**_ **Beth's POV**

I had hidden myself in my room as soon as we got home, calling Dean's second phone, then his third. I tried John's phones, and my emergency one. They all rang out.

By morning I was starting to think I was caught in a nightmare. I was staring at myself in the mirror, seeing a mousey young girl with a round face, shoulder-length wavy brown hair and green eyes and freckles, staring back at me.

"Dean, I've called every phone we got," I said into the last voicemail. "Where are you? So, this is gonna sound crazy, really crazy, but, um – I think I'm in the wrong body." I chuckled almost hysterically at the thought. _Oh god, I'm losing it!_ "I uh… I could really use your arms around me right now, telling me it's all a bad dream. Call me the hell back!"

I hung up and dialled the motel's number. "Hello, uh, could you please connect me to room 102?"

"102? Uh, nah, man, those guys checked out middle of the night," the man on the other end said.

"Wait… guys. Did they have a girl with them?" I asked.

"Yeah - pretty thing, long legs, leather jacket.."

I sighed, thanking him and hanging up. _What was going on?_ I stared in the mirror a little longer, sighing again. "Who are you?" I turned and looked around the room. Whoever I was, I was into something I shouldn't be. Now, if I was a teenage girl…. _Aha!_

I moved forward, flipping up the mattress of the bed, and finding a leather bound diary. I picked it up, dropped the mattress and sat heavily on the bed, flipping it open to the last couple of entries.

 _I'm only doing this because Gary thinks it's cool. I don't like the Satanic crap, it scares me to death. We are meddling in things we shouldn't be. If my parents founds out I'd be soooo grounded. But I do it to be closer to Gary. Today we…._

I scanned ahead through the boring day to day drivel until something else caught my eye. Dated three days after the last one, Nora seemed to be having her doubts.

 _I thought all this stuff was just grandstanding, but it's not! We were in Trevor's basement, doing a ritual - Erica had even come along, Trevor had convinced her. He's got it bad for her. I didn't like including her, she's going to ruin everything. But something about four of us, I think made the difference. Having a fourth person to speak the incantations as we prayed. Because SOMETHING HAPPENED! Gary started acting strange, and speaking in a different way. It was like he was possessed._

I stopped, taking a couple of deep breaths. _Oh god, oh god. They were summoning demons! Stupid, stupid kids!_ There was more, about a bounty and mention of Dean…. I felt myself physically pale. I had to get out of here! I stood up, looking frantically around the room and then went to the window. It overlooked a garden below, with a slight overhang, I pushed the window up when I heard the door behind me.

"Going somewhere sis?" I spun around to see Erica looking at me, her eyebrow raised. Did she know what was going on?

"Uh, me, no… just needed some fresh air," I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah, okay," she said, nodding. "I wasn't expecting to see you back here so soon."

"Uh, yeah, I guess not huh?" I shrugged. I had no idea what she was going on about.

"I told Trevor this wouldn't work, stupid idiot," she said. I bit my lip, just nodding. "How long were you in there? Like an hour, tops?"

"Something like that," I said, "I don't really remember."

"Gary is probably home by now too, we'll have to check in with him in the morning. But it doesn't really change the plan, not really."

She was watching me very carefully, almost as if she was waiting for me to slip up. But I'd read Nora's journal. I didn't really know what was completely going on, but I knew enough. I knew Dean was in danger.

"No, we'll have to find another way," I nodded. "We should talk to Trevor too, fill him in."

"Yeah," Erica nodded. "Yeah, we should. Anyway, I was just getting you for breakfast, come on. We'll finish quick and then I arranged to meet Trevor before school."

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV  
That morning**_

I hadn't slept all that well, by the time we'd checked into another motel, settled in for the night, I'd fallen fast I woke up, I found my arm around Beth, instantly I was turned on. I started to wander my hand down her stomach, glancing over my shoulder at Sam, who was still snoring in the bed nearby. _Perfect._

Beth tensed as my fingers danced along her abdomen, and I heard her take a sharp breath. With a grin, I nuzzled in closer, pressing my erection in against her shorts, rubbing myself against her while I pulled her closer. My hand slipped up under her shirt, circling her nipple, and I heard a soft moan as I gently tweaked it.

"Morning sugarpie," I whispered in her ear, turning her face around so I could kiss her lips. She didn't kiss me back right away, but then she opened her mouth and I deepened it, my tongue moving in against hers as my fingers trailed firmly back down over her stomach and into her shorts… she squeaked a little in surprise, her eyes widening as I hesitated, my fingers pressed to her hot, semi-wet, folds.

"Shhh, you want to wake Sam?" I asked, frowning. "You're so tense," I added, kissing down her neck, my thoughts turning a lot more erotic. I grinning, and sucked a little more firmer on her skin as I added, "I can help with that."

"Dean… what are you… I mean… are … we… I don't know…"

I slipped a finger snuggly in against her clit, rubbing soft, slow, tantalising circles around it and feeling her instinctively respond.

"Ohhh, my God," she moaned softly. "But I…"

That was enough to encourage me, I silenced her complaints with a kiss, moving her on to her back as I ground my body against hers and started to move on top of her. She lay there, watching me, her hands stilled beside her body; I chuckled. "You want me to do all the work this morning?" I whispered. "Because I'm okay with that…"

I started to kiss my way down her stomach, pulling off her shorts as I went. She stared at me, her lip trembling, and I grinned up at her. Her eyes flicked toward Sam, and I knew what she was worried about. I didn't expect to see her eyes widen. Glancing in the same direction, I saw Sam awake, staring at us.

"Oh man!" I groaned, rolling off Beth and throwing the covers over us while she pulled her shorts up. "What are you… watching us now?" What the hell was going on with him? First the bathroom, now this?

"What?" Sam asked, sitting up, looking a little flustered. "No… no! Of course not. I uh… didn't want to interrupt?"

Beth glared at him, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom, I looked after her and sighed. I frowned at him: even if they were just another innocent moment where he happened to walk in on Beth, or us, it wasn't like him to be acting like an awkward teenager about it.

"You have stupid timing, you know that? And you could have given us some indication that you were awake dude, normally you'd be complaining and whining til the cows come home!" I growled under my breath, getting up and knocking on the bathroom door. "Beth?"

"Y-yes?" She asked, cracking it a bit.

"You want the first shower, or can I…" I closed my eyes, feeling my arousal still tight in my boxers. I really needed a cold shower.

"All yours," she said, opening the door for me.

"You know you can join me…" I offered with a grin, but she shook her head.

"Uh, no. No, I'm okay," she said. I felt disappointment slam against me. She was acting so strange. We'd had a couple of rough days after killing the wraith, but I'd been hopeful that we were moving beyond that. I couldn't help but think about the passionate sex we'd had in the mental hospital… and nothing since then, and it was driving me crazy. Having Sam around during this critical time was really starting to feel like having Dad back again! I didn't want to look at the fact that maybe, _just maybe,_ the anger she'd been talking about was starting to negatively affect our relationship.

"Okay," I nodded. "Well I'm gonna… and then… we better get going," I said. She stepped out of the bathroom, steadfastly avoiding me. I frowned and then decided to get on with it, closing the bathroom door behind me, leaning on the basin and staring at myself in the mirror. Did she really hate me that much that she couldn't stand to be with me?

 _All I do is fail._

I faced the shower in resignation and turned it on, setting the temperature to cold. As the blast of chilled water hit my body I felt myself respond appropriately, and then my mind turned to the case. One person I didn't want to fail was Donna. We had to get to the bottom of whatever was happening in her house.

Half an hour later I was ready to get on the road.

"So, uh, where we going, anyway?" Sam asked.

"To work," I said. "The case?"

"Oh, right. Yeah – the case. Of course. Where, uh, do you want to start?"

I stopped at the side of the car, looking across the roof at him. "Well, since you couldn't find where Maggie Briggs was buried, now we have to do an all-day tombstone roll to see if we can dig her up." I thought I saw Beth shudder next to Sam. What was this opposites day? I knew she didn't like digging up graves, but finding them had never been a problem.

"Wait. M-Maggie Briggs? You mean, like – like, the witch Maggie Briggs?" Sam asked excitedly.

"Yeah Sherlock," I said, gaping at him. Where the hell was his head?

"Yeah, she's in the basement," Sam said.

"Come again?" I asked, looking at him. As of 8pm last night he'd had no idea _where_ she was. "W-what basement?"

"Isaiah Pickett's house. Okay, there's this legend that he hung her, but he didn't. The real truth is that she was carrying his illegitimate child, and he killed her and then buried her in the basement," Sam said.

"The murdered chylde," I said thoughtfully. "That would explain the scratches. How do you know all this?"

"Oh, I've done all kinds of research on it," I felt my eyes widen. _Like when?!_ He quickly shrugged, and looked a little sheepishly at me. "I mean, you know, last night."

Huh. Well I guess I had kind of crashed early last night. Made sense.

"Yeah. Nice work... I guess," I got in the car, Sam and Beth following, and started her up. _Rock 'n Roll Never Forgets_ came over the speakers from the tape in the deck. I smiled, but glanced over at Sam, realising that if I didn't turn it down he was going to whinge and complain all the way to the other side of town. I reached out to twist the knob and Sam frowned at me.

"Aw, man, turn it up!"

 _Say what?_

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Hell yeah!" Sam said. I looked in the rearview mirror at Beth, she met my eyes and I raised my eyebrow at her as the music got louder. She smiled, just a smile, but at least it was better than nothing. I'd take it.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

"Dean!" I muttered into the phone for what had to be the thirtieth time. "Someone has stolen my body. And there's more. You need to call me! The girl right next to you is not me!" I hung up the phone a little more forcefully than I should have and glared at the screen.

"Check your damn voicemail. Damn it," I cursed. I looked up and saw Erica coming out of the diner carrying two cherry cokes.

"Nora?" I heard the name and remembered to turn.

I found myself looking at a red-haired boy - his hair short and curly, piled atop his head. He had on a checked shirt, with a green jacket, white stripes across the chest. Despite the fact that he appeared a little nerdy, he had that kind of confident, self-assured look about him. He frowned slightly, looking at my phone as Erica strolled up to us casually.

"Who were you calling?" He asked me.

"Uh, no one," I said. "They didn't answer."

"Seemed a little annoyed at them," he said, crossing his arms and looking at Erica.

I shrugged, and Erica smiled handing me the coke. I smiled back at her, feeling a little uneasy, but I couldn't explain why. They were staring at me, and I sighed, shrugging at them as if to say " _what?"_

"So, the plan is we get to school," Erica said. "See if we can find Gary, and then see where this whole thing went wrong, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," sneered the boy. "But I don't know why I wore off, it doesn't make any sense!"

"Trevor, this stuff isn't like… I don't know… mathematics. There's no rule book," Erica said, looking back at me. "Right sis?"

"Uh, yeah… I guess," I said. "All kinds of variables can come into play…"

I lifted the coke to my lips and just as I went drink from it, I felt a familiar pain in my neck. I reached up to feel the same dart from the night before, and looked at Trevor and Erica in alarm.

"Told you it wasn't her," Erica said. "She hates soda."

"Yeah well, let's get her out of here before someone sees her, then we'll find _Gary_."

With a gasp I realised that I'd been tricked, and then everything went dark.

* * *

 _ **Later That Morning  
Donna's House  
**_ **Dean's POV**

I was hoping we weren't going to have to smash through a cement floor to get at _possible_ bones. Sam's research had better be spot on before I started demo work. As it was, it didn't look as if Donna or Peter had spent much time in the basement at all since moving in a few months earlier. There was no light when I flipped the switch by the door, obviously a globe needed replacing - or sign of something more, which was not always fun. Pulling out my maglite, I sighed, looking back at Sam and Beth and then starting down the stairs.

Cobwebs lined the railing and all the corners of the room. This place was creepy, I was surprised no one had reported issues before now with ghost activity. Then again, maybe they had, who knew why the previous owners had sold.

As we reached the floor, I saw dirt and let out a little sigh of relief.

"Boo-yah!" Sam chuckled, trailing after me and aiming his gun every which way he looked. "Master chief is in the house, bizatches!"

"Are you all right?" I asked, stopping to look back at him.

Sam stopped what he was doing and nodded. "Yeah. Fine."

I looked at Beth who was crouching down in front of a patch of green in the centre of the room.

"Well, I'll be damned," I said.

"Willow Moss," she said, looking up at me.

"Yeah, right. It's, uh, supposed to grow over witches' graves, right?" Sam asked. I looked at him incredulously. How did the dude not know that?

"Uh, yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. I dumped the bag I was carrying and leaned down to pull out a shovel. Beth stood up, moving to lean against a wall as I started digging. After a while, I was starting to feel like we were getting somewhere. It was a shallow grave, and before long I was seeing bones.

 _Bingo!_

"Hey man, I'm really sorry about this," Sam said out of the blue. I tossed another shovel full of dirt to the side and scraped over the bones.

"Sorry about what?" I asked.

Suddenly Sam was propelled backwards through the air. I turned to see him crash into some old shelving.

"Sam!" I dropped the spade and ran across the room, helping him to his feet, Beth right next to us. Sam grabbed her arm and looked at her in a panic.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" He said.

"Wait, wait, wait. We still got to burn the body, you idiot. Come on," I said. As I took a step toward the bones, I felt myself lifted through the air, my turn to fly and hit the wall. Next to me, a woman appeared, matted hair, old-fashioned dress with a dark apron, and crazy eyes glaring at me as she stalked toward me. I reached around for a gun, but I had nothing. I had a moment to think ' _oh shit'_ as she rushed toward me. I braced, waiting for the impact, and then she exploded in flames!

Sam was standing over by the grave, the lighter fluid in his hand as a fire burned in the grave I'd just dug up. He turned to look at me, a big smile across his face. "Dude, that was sweet!" He exclaimed.

 _What the hell was wrong with him today?_

* * *

 _ **Later That Night  
Local Bar**_

Beth was still perplexing me. It was like she'd flipped a switch overnight. It _had_ to be the Ruby thing. It just had to be. I glanced sideways at her, throwing her a smile as the waitress brought us another round of drinks and started clearing the table of the empty shot glasses we'd just been drinking.

"Here you go, guys," she said with a smile.

"You know, do me a favour, sweetheart," I said, looking to see if Beth reacted to the term… she didn't. "Uh, would you bring me a cheeseburger with extra bacon? And fry an egg on top of it, would you?"

"Absolutely," she practically beamed at me. Normally Beth would smirk at me, as if to say ' _I told you they all fall over you'_ when that happened, but tonight… nothing. I frowned. Maybe her capacity for forgiveness had finally broken. I didn't like the thought of that.

"Oooh, that - that sounds good," Sam said, nodding quickly. "Ditto." The waitress looked at Beth questioningly.

"Oh, me?" Beth asked. "I'll uh, I'll just have a caesar salad, thanks." I raised my eyebrow this time.

"Be right back with your order," the waitress smiled.

I looked from Sam to Beth, curious. It wasn't the first time Beth ordered salads, or Sam burgers for that matter. But it wasn't _common..._ that was for damn sure! "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my family?" I asked.

"W-what do you mean?" Sam stuttered, glancing at Beth.

"Bacon cheeseburgers now?" I asked, turning to Beth. "Salad?"

"I don't know," Sam replied, with a grin. "I eat them, don't I?" I looked at Beth, she was wide eyed and skittish.

"I … just wanted a salad," she said after a moment. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I guess." I said with a shrug. Sam threw Beth a perplexed look, one that I agreed with, and then raised one of the whiskey shots I'd ordered.

"Anyways, we are celebrating," he said.

That was true enough. I nodded, lifting my own glass. Beth quickly followed suit. "Another one bites the dust. Nice work today."

"You too. I had a, uh, really awesome day, man. Seriously." Sam quickly downed the rest of his glass and put it down. "Whoo! Sweet." Beside me Beth choked a little, but recovered. _Must have gone down the wrong way. Maybe I could cheer her up with a favourite drink._

I waved at the waitress while she was passing. "Hey can we get a cherry coke for my wife? Cheers."

"Sure thing!" The smiling girl hurried back to the bar and placed our order with the bartender.

"A really awesome day?" I questioned, turning my attention back to Sam.

"Yeah. Why not?" Sam asked.

"It was a random, D-list ghost hunt. That's – that's awesome to you?" I asked.

"I can't be in a good mood?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I guess…" I said, trailing off and looking from him to Beth. "No, actually. It's not really your style Sam," I countered, and I waited for Beth to agree with me. She didn't.

"Well, then, it's a new me," Sam said, his eyes darting around as he shrugged. "I mean, come on. Why shouldn't I be happy? I've got a gun, I'm getting drunk, and…" he pointed his finger to his face. "I look like this."

 _What the hell?_

"I don't know." Sam sighed. "You ever feel like your whole future is being decided for you?"

"Uh, yeah, Sam, I feel like that a lot," I said. Like all the damn time. Especially when it came to Sam… it had always been _look after Sam._ Never anything about what I wanted.

"No matter how much you fight it, you can't stop the plan. The stupid, stupid plan. So, I don't know. I guess it's, uh, it's just nice to do a little ass-kicking for a change, that's all." Beth was glaring at Sam, as if she wanted to hit him. I had a moment to wonder what that was about before the waitress came back with the cherry coke, and Sam chuckled, sitting back a little.

"Uh, you know what? I – I'm drunk," he chuckled after we were alone again. "Sorry. Just – just forget it."

"No, no," I said after a moment. "It's all right. It's, uh… I'll drink to that," I said, lifting another glass and he followed suit. I chinked my glass against his and downed it, Sam following suit. I felt a moment of weirdness, but in a good way, looking at him. "Wow, you know, is it just me, or are we actually drinking together?"

"We don't do it that often, huh?" Sam asked.

I scoffed, thinking about all the times he'd left me and Beth to drink alone. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Well, we should," Sam said. "You're a good guy, Dean."

"Oh you are drunk," I chuckled. I glanced at Beth again, who took a sip of her drink and screwed up her nose.

"You don't like your drink?" I asked. Beth pushed it away from her and frowned.

"No," she said.

"She hates cherry coke," Sam said as the waitress brought our burgers and put them in front of us, then a salad in front of Beth. Sam picked up his burger while I mused at his comment, and took a big bite, groaning in appreciation.

"Enjoy," she said, smiling at Sam.

"Mmm! The bread alone!" Sam said around a mouthful of food, moaning again.

"Since when don't you like cherry coke?" I asked, completely confused at Beth's answer.

"No, but I mean it, you really are a good guy." Sam said, cutting in. Beth shrugged at me, and started to stab her food with a fork.

We'd listened to Sam chatter away about the food all through dinner, Beth's answer about the coke still niggling at me. She had not been herself for a good 24 hours, in fact, neither had Sam. I watched them both closely, both looked normal… maybe they were just having an off day.

After a moment, Beth excused herself from the table to go to the bathroom. Sam got up to go to the bar, and I finished my third beer, thinking about what I might want to drink after that. I was anxiously wanting to talk to Beth alone, get to the bottom of what was troubling her. She was taking an awful long time in there…

I turned to see Sam talking to a woman at the bar who was clearly picking him up, and he was going for it.

"Love that jacket on you, by the way," she said as they started to walk toward the door. Sam turned to smile at her, primping like a peacock.

"Thanks," he said. "Actually, the whole outfit is new."

I frowned, _since when was that old get up, 'new'?_

Sam stopped at the door after Crystal walked out ahead of him, giving me a thumbs up. "We're gonna do it!" He whispered loudly to me, and then he was gone.

 _Okay, that was_ NOT _normal._

I heard a splutter beside me, and saw Beth standing a few feet away, staring at the door.

"Where is he going?" She asked, her face pale and clearly upset.

"Uh, well, seems to me he's off to get himself some action," I said, watching her reaction.

"What? Why?" She asked, looking from the door to me.

"Well, because he probably hasn't been laid...well, since our last night with Jo, I'm guessing." It had not been that long in terms of Sam's abstinence and that's what was worrying me. Sam did _not_ pick up random chicks in a bar. Beth most certainly didn't get upset when he actually did leave us alone for an evening.

"Hey, come on, let's get out of here," I said, shrugging into my jacket and dropping a hundred dollar bill on the table, waving at the waitress. She saw me and waved back, and I slipped my hand around Beth's waist, guiding us out into the open air.

We weren't far from the motel, so we walked in silence most of the way until I stopped in front of a chapel.

Beth looked at me curiously as I nodded toward the lit up stained glass windows. It was something that never went ignored by her.

"Church is open," I said, "you want to go in?"

She hesitated, but then nodded, opening the gate and stepping through into the little courtyard that led to the front.

"You know," I said, stepping in behind her. "I was thinking about what we discussed a few days ago. About Minnesota…"

"Oh yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking… maybe we should go back. Settle down…" My voice trailed off as we stepped inside the church foyer. The doors into the chapel were open, a dozen candles lighting up the room beyond. Beth looked at me, troubled, and then turned to walk further into the church.

I looked at the holy water in the font we'd just passed. It was still. Beth hadn't even touched it. With a frown, I followed her as she walked slowly down the main aisle toward the altar.

"We could give Patrick a little brother or sister," I said deliberately. Waiting for her to turn, to glare at me.

She didn't.

 _Dammit, Beth!_

I cursed under my breath as she replied to me. "Y-yeah… maybe we should Dean, if you want," she replied. I stalked toward her, and before she could turn, I wrapped my arm around her neck, cutting off the air supply.

She gasped, and beat at me with her hands, but she didn't have the skills to get out of the headlock. She flailed against me until, after a moment, she collapsed in my arms. I looked down at her unconscious body and sighed.

"Yeah… you are not my wife," I said.

* * *

 _ **Trevor's Basement  
**_ **Beth's POV**

When I woke up, I'd been alone in the basement, tied up to a chair. I struggled, but there was certainly no getting around it, these knots were tight. After what had seemed an eternity, but probably only an hour or so, I heard voices, and a body being dragged down the stairs. I looked up and saw a young boy, the same age as the others, unconscious and being carried by both Trevor and Erica.

"Put him over by her," Trevor said, gesturing to an empty chair next to me. They dropped the boy on the chair, and Erica grabbed another rope, moving to tie the boy.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking at Trevor. "Why are you doing this?"

The boy next to me came to with a start, looking around wildly.

"Hey!" He shouted. "What the hell's going on?!"

"You can scream all you want," Trevor said loudly. "No one can hear you! My parents are out of town!"

He turned away and punched a number into the phone, waiting for someone to answer. I bit into my lip, looking at Erica as she went to lean against a couch, looking over at both me and the new kid, her arms crossing.

Trevor began speaking into the phone. "Gary?"

 _Gary?_ Was it the same number I'd dialed yesterday. Fair chance, maybe I could get some help!

"Hey, hey!" I said, struggling against the ropes futilely. "Listen to me, Sam! Sam! They've got me, they've…" I gasped as Erica stepped forward and slapped me.

"Shut up."

I glared at her, swinging my head back around to look at her. For my so-called twin, she was a bitch, and she hit hard too. I started to see that she was probably responsible for driving some of this situation. _How had Nora gotten caught up in this mess?_ I wondered how they had Sam's phone, and then looked around the basement. Lots of space, was he here too?

"I don't know what you've done to my brother, but I am going to rip your…"

"Beth?" The boy said next to me.

 _What?!_

I looked sideways, frowning. "Yeah?" I took in his round, pale face, slightly sweaty from exerting himself against the bonds holding him.

"Beth is that you?" He said, leaning forward. _How did he know my name? I'd just been screaming for… oh no. Oh no no nonono._

"Sammy?" I whispered, looking at him in horror.

"Yeah," he said. "What the hell is going on?"

"Where are you?" Trevor said into the phone, ignoring our conversation. After a moment, he spoke again, "well, where's Dean?"

"Dean!" Sam said beside me. "Beth, what's going on?"

"You don't want to know," I groaned, pulling at the bonds again and then slumping back. "Dammit, these are tight."

"You're welcome," Erica sneered at me.

"I take it you have been having an out of body experience since last night too?" I asked, looking at the kid next to me. He nodded and then scowled at the pair of them.

"It's been a crazy night... I had to pretend I was drunk to get his parents to go along with my sudden amnesia," Sam said.

"Yeah, well that explains why _you_ hung up on me when I called you," I said, biting my lip. "It wasn't you, it was this other guy."

There was a loud sigh from the other side of the room and Trevor was glaring at nothing in particular, looking as if he was ready to rip somebody's head off.

"Well where's Nora?" Trevor asked, pausing to listen to the answer, and then, "you left her alone with him? You mean you haven't killed him yet?"

"What? Wait, wait, wait, wait. W-what do you mean? Kill Dean?" Sam asked next to me.

I felt my pulse starting to race, and I looked anxiously at Sam. "They've been after Dean all along."

"What?!" Sam asked incredulously.

"How do you know about that?" Erica asked sharply, stepping closer.

"Look, Gary, we got problems here. For one, I'm looking at your body right now – with this other dude in it," Trevor said. "And we got Nora's body here too, and Dean's _wife_ in it!"

"Yeah, he's been in your house. He's hanging out with your parents," Trevor said. "Nora had a seizure after the ceremony… Erica found her and they took her to the hospital, then…"

Trevor stopped talking, listening to the boy on the other end of the phone.

"Just hurry up and kill the son of a bitch already, would you?" Trevor snapped. Pausing, then finishing with "yeah, you better. Now go find Nora, get her to help!"

He hung up the phone and turned to look at Erica, who was shaking her head in disdain at him.

"I don't think he's gonna do it," Trevor said.

"Just relax, this is Gary we're talking about," Erica said, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched him carefully.

"What the hell is going on here? How do you know who Dean is?" Sam asked beside me.

"Everybody knows Dean. He's Hell's most wanted," Trevor said. Sam looked at me.

"Oh, no. No. Have these idiots been talking to demons?" He asked. It was _so weird_ seeing this young kid talking to me with Sam's vocal mannerisms. I nodded, and Trevor looked over at us.

"Oh, right. We're the idiots," Trevor said with a smirk.

"They're in deep," I said to Sam. "There's a price on Dean's head…"

"What?!" Sam exclaimed.

"They think they can collect on it," I finished. "It was all in Nora's diary." I saw Erica roll her eyes. She turned to Trevor and shook her head.

"Oh my stupid, sweet sister. She _would_ write about that," Erica said.

"You're just kids," Sam said, pulling on his bonds.

"Yeah, you have no idea what you're messing with," I added.

"How the hell did this happen?" Sam asked, looking at me, but Erica was getting bored and clearly wanted to talk.

"About a month ago, we were down here," she started, but Trevor cut in.

"Erica!"

"What? We're not allowed to talk about him?" She snapped. "You heard her, Nora already wrote about it in her diary, she knows." Erica turned back to Sam. "We were down here, goofing around with that book." She gestured to an old leatherbound book resting on a table nearby.

"Um, I wouldn't exactly call praying to our dark overlord 'goofing around.'" Trevor interrupted. Erica rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't be a loser, Trev," she said. "Anyway, all of a sudden, the lights flickered and Gary went into this weird trance." She crossed the room and started to page through the book, stopping when she came to a loose sheet of paper. "He closed his eyes, picked up a pencil, and drew this."

She picked up the paper in the book, and walked over to hold it up in front of us. It was a hand drawn, almost perfect. replica of Dean's face.

"And you know what's really weird? Gary can't draw." Trevor added.

"This is bad, Sam," I whispered, Sam nodded beside me, but was as powerless as I was to do anything.

"He said he heard a voice in his head. The demons were putting out a bounty on this guy," Erica continued.

"A bounty?" Sam groaned, looking urgently at me.

"Yeah, every witch or Satanist in the country knows about this. You have it coming. But Gary – Gary's the one who spotted you," Erica said.

"And the "Freaky Friday" crap?" Sam asked.

"Another spell from the book. Gary's idea – go in Trojan horse-style. Nora thinks he's really smart," Erica said, glancing at me.

"That is, if he has the beanbags to go through with it," Trevor said. "I'm starting to think we should have sent you instead of Nora into this one's body," he stopped to point at me.

"Listen to me. You are making a terrible mistake. We're talking about a demon deal – _killing somebody_. This isn't a game. You're crossing a line you won't come back from. Believe me," Sam said.

"Is this what you want, Erica?" I asked, looking at her. "You might hate your sister, but… do you really want to rot beside her in Hell for all eternity? Because that's where you're going if you make a deal with demons."

Erica looked at Trevor, a little rattled.

"What?" Trevor asked.

She hesitated, putting her have on her head. "Nothing… I…."

"Erica, don't tell me you're actually listening to these jerks."

"I don't know. M-maybe. I-I mean, what if they have a point?" She asked, looking at his with the first troubled expression I'd seen on her face.

"I'm not lying, Erica, this is worse than black magic. You're messing with your souls," I countered, seeing her waver just a little.

"I don't believe this. First Gary, now you. I can't – you know what? Fine. You want something done right…" Trevor spun on his heel, and picked up a black book from an altar nearby.

"What, you're gonna – you're gonna go kill Dean yourself, tough guy?" Erica taunted.

"Don't have to. I can do this," he held up a book I was very familiar with. I'd studied it while Dean was in Hell, looking for some way to break him out. He had it open to a book about demon summoning.

"N-no, no. Y-you can't be serious," Erica said.

"I'm calling up one of these bad boys, turning these punks over, and getting paid. Dolla, dolla bills, y'all!" Trevor said.

"No!" I exclaimed.

"I-I really don't think that that's a good idea," Erica said.

"It's not. It's a very, very bad idea," Sam cut in, looking at me, distressed.

"No one asked you," Trevor sneered at him.

I exchanged a worried look with Sam, and sighed. _Dammit Dean, look at your voicemail!_

Trevor moved quickly, setting up familiar ingredients in preparation for the summoning.

"Don't do this," Sam said, imploring him with his eyes. "I'm begging you."

Erica was starting to crack. She looked from us, to Trevor, fear in her eyes. "Trevor, I think they're right," she said. "I mean, I only did this for Nora, you said you needed a fourth to help... "

"You did this for Nora?" I asked, looking at her.

"You don't understand," Erica said. "Nora… struggles… she wanted help with getting Gary to notice her…"

"Hey," Trevor retorted. "You want to get into Vassar, don't you?" She glared at him. "You have your reasons to be here, and they have _nothing_ to do with your sister."

"Trevor, please, you have to stop this - it's crazy!" I spat out as he finished gathering everything together.

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Sam added. He ignored us, turning back to the book.

"Ad ligandum eos pariter eos coram me!" Trevor said in a grand voice, throwing down the powder in his hands. I saw Erica fall to the ground in a faint, and looked at Sam.

"Oh no," I said, renewing my efforts to bring loose of the ropes holding me.

Trevor looked up, frowning. "Maybe I said it wrong," he muttered, turning around seeing Erica slumped against a wall nearby. Her head was down, hair spilling across her face. For all intents and purposes she appeared as if she was asleep, but Sam and I knew better.

"Erica?" Trevor asked, stepping forward and going to shake her shoulder. It happened so fast, one minute he was at the altar, the next he was right beside her.

"No!" Sam shouted.

"No, no, don't touch her!" I joined in.

"Erica, you okay?" Trevor asked. As his hand came into contact with the girl, her head rolled back, eyes as black as night, and I felt the bottom of my stomach drop.

"Sammy…" I whispered.

"I see it," he said.

"Oh yeah," said the demon inside Erica, grinning at Trevor who stumbled back in shock. "I'm peachy!" She climbed to her feet, advancing on the boy, and watching him with a curiosity. "So, what'd you call me here for, Skippy? Unless... it's dinnertime?" She licked her lips and giggled.

"What?" Trevor asked, frowning. "I-I... n-no. Uh, we have Dean Winchester."

This got her attention. "You do?" She asked. "Where?"

"Trevor, keep your mouth shut," Sam ordered him. But the boy was beyond convincing.

"You have no idea what you're doing," I added. "She doesn't care about you, or your…"

"The Cloverleaf Motel over on Route 6," Trevor said, ignoring me. The demon smiled, nodding happily to herself before spinning to look at us.

"Dude!" Sam cursed.

"Sam?" She turned to look at him. "Is that you in there?" She asked, walking closer and peering at him. She watched for a moment, and then laughed at the sight. "Well, aren't you just 98 pounds of nothing."

"The kid is a moron. He doesn't have any idea where Dean is," Sam sneered.

She laughed. Looking at me. "Why is she tied up?" She stepped closer, and grabbed my chin, wrenching it upwards. I glared back at her and she chuckled to herself. "Well, well, well… if it isn't Mrs Dean Winchester herself, how interesting."

"Let her go!" Sam snapped.

"Isn't this a pickle for you guys?" She asked, laughing to herself. "Now tell me... if Sam's in this body, who's in Sam's?" She got straight to the point, and just like that the opportunity was clear. Sam's body - Lucifer's vessel.

"A dangerous warlock. Named Gary," interjected Trevor.

"You mean to tell me you've got Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester's meat suit? An empty vessel just waiting to be filled. And you're handing them both over to me?" The demon asked, looking back at Trevor.

"Uh, y-yeah. I guess," he stammered.

"Well... I got to hand it to you. I'm impressed," she smiled.

Trevor seemed pleased with himself. "Thanks. Um, so if you don't mind my asking... there's a reward?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's gonna get himself killed," I muttered to Sam, who nodded next to me.

"Him and us both," he agreed.

"Sure. My undying gratitude," the demon answered Trevor.

Trevor chuckled wryly. "What, are you serious?"

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Sam snapped.

"Consider yourself lucky, kid," the demon said, turning away from Trevor and advancing on us, a satisfied look on her face. Trevor's face contorted into rage behind her, and he took a couple of steps forward, steeling himself.

"Um, wait a minute! We worked our asses off here, and, uh, I want my reward!" The demon stopped, turning to stare at him. Trevor swallowed nervously, completely ignorant of the danger he was in, adding, "...please?"

The demon chuckled, nodding. "Okay. I'm sorry. You're right. What can I get you?"

She walked up to him, and Trevor started to ramble, as if he was sensing the thin ice he was walking on.

"Well, h-how about a million bucks?" He said.

"Oh, for God's sake, Trevor, just shut up and run!" I yelled at him.

"A million doesn't buy you much these days. Why not make it 10?" She replied.

"Okay, $10 mill. And I want... I want Mindy Schwartz to fall in love with me," he added.

Smirking, the demon shook her head. "Love... money. Sticking to the basics. I can respect that…" She paused for a moment, contemplating, and then tilted her head to the side. "But here's my counter." Without hesitating, she punched forward, driving her hand into Trevor's chest. He gasped, and then spat out blood as she pulled back, ripping his heart out of his chest.

I grimaced, turning my head to the side as Trevor fell lifeless to the ground. "Dammit, you dumb boy."

The demon turned to smile at us, licking the blood from her hand.

"Yep. Tastes like moron."

She turned to look at us, a wicked smile on her face, and I felt the blood drain from mine.

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
**_ **Dean's POV**

Beth… or whoever she was, was still out cold by the time I got back to the motel. I put her on a chair and tied her hands behind her back, while I flipped through my phone. Nothing. No notifications, nothing. Someone must have deleted them, I glanced over at Beth and sighed - had to be her.

That didn't seem right. Even on a good day I had one or two from someone. Who was this soul, person, whatever inside Beth's body? Whoever she was… whoever was in there… that wasn't Beth. I was starting to think that the same situation might be happening with Sam. Which begged the question - where were Sam and Beth? There was a tightness in my chest that I didn't like at that question, but, one thing at a time. If Sam and Beth were in trouble, they would have tried calling me.

I picked up the phone on the desk, and dialed into my voicebox.

The phone beeped once, and then an automated voice announced, "you have 61 messages."

 _Shit!_

The phone beeped, and the first message was from a voice I didn't know, but had to be Sam. " _Uh, this is gonna sound crazy – really crazy – but I think, uh, I think I'm in the wrong body."_

The next one was Beth, but again, didn't sound like her. " _Dean! It's me, Beth. Something weird is going on. I'm… well I'm in some seventeen year old girl's body! Call me back right away!"_

I stared at Beth, _my Beth,_ as she started to regain consciousness, the voicemails cycling through.

" _Dean, the guy right next to you is not me!"_ Sam again.

" _Dean, check your friggin' voicemail. Damn it."_ Sam.

" _Why aren't you answering your phone Dean? Where are you?"_ Beth.

The panic in her voice set me off. She wasn't even in her own body, and I'd…. I'd been… oh I didn't even want to think about what I'd nearly been doing with _whoever that was_ this morning. No freaking wonder she'd been acting strange!

" _Dean, I've called every phone we got, Where are you? So, this is gonna sound crazy, really crazy, but, um – I think I'm in the wrong body. I uh… I could really use your arms around me right now, telling me it's all a bad dream. Call me the hell back!"_

I closed my eyes, pushing all my feelings down deep, shutting them behind a door. It had only been 24 hours, that was nothing, I could fix this. I _would_ fix this! Whatever _this_ was.

I hung up the phone, looking at the familiar brown eyes.

"All right, sister. Either you start talking or we are going to very quickly stop getting along," I said, glaring at her. "Where are Sam and Beth!?"

"Oh, my God," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "Please, don't hurt me. Please! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

I heard a rattle at the door, and looked up. Sam, or whoever was currently inside his body, was back. Thinking quickly, I hurried across the room to hide behind the door.

"Gary!" The girl in the chair called out. "Gary help!"

The door opened, and Sam walked in brandishing a shotgun. He saw Beth tied to the chair and hurried toward her.

"Nora! What happened?" He asked.

 _Nora?_

"He did!"

She looked up, giving away my position, but it was too late. As Sam turned around, I punched him head on.

"You're not Sam. Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"Ow!" The guy exclaimed, reaching for his nose. I punched him again for good measure, and then hauled his semi-conscious ass up on the chair. The fact that I could do that alone, meant that it wasn't Sam. Neither he nor Beth were showing any understanding or knowledge of self-defense, it was like they'd never been in a fight in their lives.

"Hey, pull it together, champ," I said as I tied Sam's hands behind his back.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die," he moaned.

"Where's Sam, and Beth?" I asked, looking at them. He looked up at me, seeing the steely resolve in my expression, and seemed to cave right in front of me.

"In my – my friend's basement. His parents are out of town," Sam, or whoever he was… _Gary_ I presumed, answered.

"Parents?" I asked, looking at them. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," he replied, the girl next to him nodding. Beth's message had said something about being stuck in a seventeen year old's body. I frowned, that took some serious mojo to achieve. Beth and I had been body swapped once before, and that had taken the power of a Trickster... I didn't like the idea of having to track that son of a bitch down to undo this if these kids had no back-up plan.

"We're so sorry, please, j-just… please let us go." The boy said.

"Seventeen?" I said, curious. "Huh." First thing was first, I had to get to this basement and find out what had happened to Beth and Sam. I was going over all the options in my mind when, suddenly, I was hit with the familiar feeling of being propelled through the air. I flew backwards, body out of my control, hitting a nightstand and slumping to the ground. I hurt… everywhere.

"Erica?" ' _Beth'_ asked, looking at our new arrival. I looked up long enough to see her eyes turn black. _Oh shit!_

"Not at the moment," the demon replied.

"You do not want to do this," I said, stumbling to my feet. I gasped, feeling myself slammed against the wall this time, my arms and legs pinned to the wall.

"Silence!" Commanded the demon, glaring at me. "Don't want to do what? These kids are heroes," she smiled. Her power held me, even though I fought against it, as she untied the ropes holding both Gary and his friend.

"Boy, you earned your dessert tonight, kiddos. Tell me – what is it you want? Anything."

"Anything?" Gary asked, beside him the girl looked hesitant.

"Lay it on me," the demon said with a smile.

"I want to be a witch. For real. And really powerful," Gary said. I rolled my eyes. Was this kid for real?

"Mm. Good choice. I get it. No daddy, no M.I.T, No plan. You get to be big and strong, and no one can tell you what to do anymore." She stopped to nod at him, smiling as if she was his best friend, then continued, "there's just one small formality first. You got to meet the boss."

"No!" I cried out.

"The boss?" Gary said, hesitating.

"You know – your Satanic majesty, or whatever the kids are calling it these days," she said waving her hand around in the air.

"The… the Devil?" The girl asked next to Gary.

"Mhmmm," the demon nodded.

"Gary, I don't know about this," she said, looking at her companion. "This is… this is starting to scare me."

Gary looked down at her, then at his hands, then back at the girl. It was the weirdest thing seeing Sam reach out to stroke Beth's face affectionately before saying, "It's going to be okay, Nora."

"Okay, Gary, Nora, you gotta listen to me… you need to run. Now." It was not lost upon me the irony that demons had control of the two vessels needed for the Apocalypse right now. And the soul inside one of them was a complete freaking moron!

Gary hesitated, and the demon tilted her head at him. "What's it gonna be kid?"

"Uh... no. O-okay. Um, it's okay. I... don't really want to bother him," Gary said.

"Oh, but he's gonna want to meet you," she replied. She reached up a hand and stroked along Sam's cheek. "Relax. It'll be easy. He's just gonna ask you one little question, and all you got to do is say "yes". And then, you get your reward."

"She's lying," I said.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

After Erica had left, Sam and I had each other to rely on to get ourselves free. We shuffled the chairs about to face our backs to each other, and I was able to loosen the knots holding him as they'd been tied a lot less thoroughly. Once free, he'd gotten to me, and we were out.

"Did you hear which motel?" Sam asked, and I nodded, starting to run.

"Yes, come on!" I hurried, my body feeling way less strong that I was used to. Behind me, Sam, in Gary's body lagged behind, struggling to breathe.

"Are you okay?" I called out, stopping.

"Asthma!" He yelled. "Go! I'll catch up when I can."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I turned down an alley and ran until I felt like I might throw up, and even then I didn't stop. I had to get to Dean. By the time I reached the motel, the door to the room was wide open, and Erica was standing in the middle of the room. Dean was stuck to the wall by her power, and in front of her, facing out, were - oddly enough - Sam and myself.

I slipped silently into the room, seeing Dean's eyes flick to me. I held my finger to my mouth telling him to keep quiet, he nodded, tilting his head to the duffel open on the bed. It was mine, and had Ruby's knife.

I hesitated, this was Erica, but … we were talking about a demon who knew where Dean and Sam were. I couldn't afford to let them get away and bring Lucifer here. I snatched up the knife and then threw myself at her, bringing the knife down in a stabbing motion. She spun, grabbing my arm, and her attention wavered. I saw Dean fall to the ground as she turned her anger toward me, tossing me across the room.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," she said, grunting as Dean tackled her from behind. She flipped him off her, landing a blow to his stomach, I knew from experience that it felt like being smashed with a sledgehammer. He grunted, and fell to the ground, and she continued to kick him in the gut over and over. I stumbled, trying to get up, the bitter taste of blood in my mouth. The demon was grunting, laying into Dean.

Black.

Faint.

I was going to throw up. I looked up, Gary - in Sam's body - was watching… _just watching,_ and then he made a decision.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus," Gary started to say.

"What was that?" The demon asked in surprise, stopping her assault on Dean.

"Uh, nothing," he said, pulled Nora behind him.

"Were you trying exorcize me?! You little piece of crap!" She reached out and grabbed Gary by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

"Spiritus, omnis satanica potestas," I continued the ritual, standing and wiping a hand across my mouth where I was bleeding. The demon turned to me.

"Omnis incursio infernalis adversii," Gary said, following in perfect sync.

"Omnis congregatio," Dean chimed in. We had the demon surrounded, she didn't know which one of us to attack.

"Et secta diabolica, ergo, draco maledicte," I said.

"Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire," Gary said.

"Te rogamus. Adios, bitch!" Dean finished, and nothing happened. I smiled, because he did it every time.

"Uh, it's "adinos."" Gary corrected him. With that final word, black smoke poured out of Erica's mouth with a scream, and emptied down into the floor, leaving the girl gasping for breath.

Dean stumbled to his feet, moving across the room to take me in his arms. I coughed, groaning as I leaned against his chest.

"Beth?"

"Y-yeah…" I said.

Dean pulled me into a fierce hug, squeezing tightly, just as Sam - in Gary's body - wheezingly reached the motel room door.

"Oh thank god," Dean said, kissing my forehead. He looked at me, and then frowned, turning to look at Erica. "Are there - are there like two of you?"

"Twins," I said with a laugh, nodding.

* * *

 **Dean's POV**

"Oh man, this is doing my head in," I muttered, looking between the two identical girls. The sister, now free of the possession had passed out and was lying on the floor, Gary and Nora (in their borrowed bodies) crouched over her in concern.

"Tell me about it," the strange voice, who spoke _like Beth,_ said. "Are you okay?" She asked, reaching out to rub some blood off my face, her expression full of concern. I looked down. It just wasn't the same, I needed her back in her own body.

I was hurting, and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with her for a week. "I'll survive," I muttered, shaking my head. "But not with you looking like that," I added with a grin. I looked over at the three _kids_ and scowled.

"Okay, Einstein," I said to Gary. "You need to fix this, now." The kid swallowed hard and then nodded at me.

Before long, we were back at Trevor's house. I grimaced at the figure of Trevor, his heart ripped out of his chest, and together with Sam and Beth, in their borrowed bodies, we collected the ingredients from the basement and went upstairs. Better those kids didn't see the results of their actions. It was going to be hard enough explaining it to the police, but they would have to do it. We were going with the simple, but effective story of the kids showing up to visit Trevor, and finding out that he was dead - clearly a part of some Satanic ritual.

Erica was awake, and in shock - rocking in place on a couch as she ignored everyone around her. I watched as Gary and Nora sat opposite Beth and Sam, placing the ingredients in the middle of them.

"Animae domum redeant," Gary started. I watched carefully. I didn't know this spell, but I caught snippets of the Latin, and Beth who was fluent seemed calm and relaxed. "Fas atque nefas instauretur. Potestate et auctoritate, sic fiat." He dropped some powder in the bowl in the centre, and it burst into flames, flaring up a good foot.

As the flame died down, I looked to Beth, asking, "so, we good?"

She smiled, and nodded, jumping up to her feet and hurrying toward me. I closed my arms around her, pulling her to my chest and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Yeah, we're good," she murmured into my shirt, her arms squeezing me tight. I grimaced at the pain shooting through my ribs from that one small movement, but it was worth it. It was so worth it.

Sam stood up and looked at himself in the mirror, nodding to himself. "Oh man, it's nice to be back," he said, turning to pat himself down.

"Yeah," Gary sighed. "Awesome."

"So…" I cleared my throat, and Beth pulled back to look in the same direction. "Gary."

The kid grimaced, and shrugged his shoulders at me. "I know- my bad."

"'My bad'?" I scoffed, approaching him with a desire to pick him up by the scruff of his neck and just… _shake him._ "Kid, 'my bad' ain't gonna cut it," I continued. "See, if you were of voting age...you'd be dead. Because we," I stopped long enough to point to Beth and myself, "would kill you. So either you straighten up and fly right or _we will_ kill you. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Gary said, looking at me in horror.

"Good," I said. I turned back to Beth and slipped my arm around her, leading us out of the room.

As we reached the car, I stopped and pulled her into my arms again. "Oh my god that was too close for comfort."

"You have no idea," she replied, burying her nose under my chin. "I thought I was going crazy… and … and…" she started to shake, no tears, just full body shudders as I pulled her in close.

"Hey, hey… we've been through worse," I said softly, kissing her head. "You're okay, I'm here."

"But you weren't Dean!" She said, looking up at me. "I was a … freaking teenager, trapped in a teenager's life, with no power of my own, no way to get to you, to convince people…I've _never_ felt so … powerless, not even when I was seventeen myself," she said. "Not since…"

"Since your Dad…" I filled in the blank, brushing the hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ears.

She nodded, biting her lip. "I've always been grateful, but... Dean I was _fifteen_ when … you guys saved me, you … _you_ saved me."

"Beth," I said, resting my hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "You're okay. We're both okay."

She closed her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths as Sam, Gary, Nora and Erica exited the house. I looked sideways at them and then back at Beth. "Come on, let's get these kids home, and then we can talk."

Nodding, Beth climbed into the passenger seat, sliding across to the middle while Sam herded the others into the back seat, then sat next to Beth.

We were going to drop them all at Gary's house, let his parents figure it out from there.

As I pulled up at the curb, I saw Gary sigh, and then he slowly climbed out of the car, followed by the rest of us.

"Crap," Gary said, looking up at the lights on the front porch.

"Gary, take it from someone who knows – chin up, man. Your life ain't that bad," Sam said.

"Uh, you met my parents," he said to Sam.

"Yeah. So what? It's your life. You don't like their plan for you, tell them to cram it. Rebel a little bit. In a healthy, non-Satanic way, of course," he stopped, looking at Nora and Erica who had moved over to stand on the sidewalk, waiting for Gary.

"Gary, do you know why Nora's into witchcraft?" Beth said out of the blue. The kid looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't like Satan, you moron. She likes you," Beth said.

"Really?" Gary asked. "You think?" He turned to look at her, she was deep in conversation with Erica. Gary's facial expression turned thoughtful, as did I imagined my own. I thought about the way Nora - in Beth's body - had looked at Gary leaving the bar earlier that night, with another woman. She'd looked betrayed. Suddenly everything made sense.

"Yeah, dude. She does," I agreed with him. _Better hope she's the forgiving type…._ I thought to myself.

"I'm telling you, kid – I wish I had your life," Sam said. That got a surprised look from me. _Really?_ Like, really? From where I was standing, and everything he'd said, Gary's life sucked. I wondered if Sam was starting to rethink the whole settling down aspect … and it gave me… _hope?_ I frowned, turning away and looking at Beth. There was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a while.

"You do?" Gary asked Sam, who nodded. The boy beamed back at Sam, and said "thanks."

"Get out of here," Sam said with a chuckle, seeing the kid in brighter spirits. Gary turned, hurrying to meet Erica and Nora, and they all turned to make the walk to the house together.

"That was a nice thing to say," I said to Sam as we got in the car. Sam climbed in the back, leaning forward to rest his arms on the seat in front of him.

"I totally lied. That kid's life sucked ass," Sam said.

Beth was staring out the window at the kids as they were met at the door by Gary's mother.

"Nora's life wasn't all that bad," she said softly. "She had a family who loved her, and her Dad... he kind of reminded me of my Dad."

I smiled at her, but Sam was shaking his head. "All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me – we didn't miss a damn thing."

 _Huh._

That feeling of hope turned to dust as quickly as it had risen. I tried not to let it show on my face, didn't want to give away that I wasn't feeling as determined about our course of action as I let on. And Sam was wrong: Beth was missing it - she's _had that_ growing up. Mother or not, her dad had done everything to give her a good life, a life free of hunting. She _had_ to be missing it, even if just a little in the quiet moments.

"Or we don't know what we're missing," I said quietly, seeing Beth turn to smile sadly at me. Sam missed the look, sitting back in his seat, while I turned on the car. I hadn't forgotten that I promised her a chance at that family "crap" back when we'd found ourselves trapped in 1973. Then we'd just gotten caught up in the hunt, like always. Times moves on but everything stays the same.

I hit the stereo power and ' _Rock 'n roll never forgets'_ came over the speakers, loud and clear. Sam growled and threw his hands in the air.

"Oh, come on, man. Turn it down!" He called out, and I chuckled, adjusting the volume.

"Welcome back, Kotter," I said, rolling my eyes.

It was official, he was back. Beth reached across the bench seat to take my hand as I dropped it down from the stereo, and then scooted a little closer so she could lean her head on my shoulder. It felt good to have her back most of all.

* * *

 _ **Beth's journal (later that night before prayers)**_

 _I can't get a handle on my emotions. The wraith said that I'm angry, and I am. I confessed it to Dean, and it felt good to get it off my chest, even though I feel so guilty saying it. But after this whole experience of body swapping with a teenager, I don't know what to feel. The emotions are still there, but they're overshadowed by more than anger. Love, need, fear, terror… it's all mixed up into this big ball of what I suppose Dr Fuller was correct in calling co-dependence. I can't take this anymore, being separated without choice. Hell, The Underworld, Heaven's green rooms, padded cells in mental hospitals, and now in body. I have never felt so powerless than being unable to reach him like the last 24hrs. I'm not sure I can effectively hunt like this. Am I putting us in danger? How do I sever my emotions so they don't get us killed? Can I? Do I even want to? Moments like this I wish my Dad was here, he always knew what to say._

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this story is _What About Us_ by Pink

What I love most about how I'm writing this series is the opportunity to tell the story solely from either Dean or Beth's point of view. I think it gives a really good chance to explore thoughts and feelings that we don't see in the show (I try to give a bit of a fresh take on the canon version so we're not just stuck reliving the same old episodes with one extra character :D)

Sam will get his day when Bubbles90 and I get around to publishing his story, which will parallel this one, telling his version of events for different things. Want to know what he got up to in Chicago, while Dean and Beth were recovering from Ellen and Jo's deaths, and hunting a wraith? That _will be told_ later on in his own story! We're still a ways off a final product, but it's coming, and we hope you are going to enjoy that story as much as you are liking this one.

As always, thank you for the fabulous feedback. Please keep reading and reviewing - it keeps me motivated to keep going.


	15. The Song Remains The Same

_When you try your best but you don't succeed  
_ _When you get what you want but not what you need  
_ _When you feel so tired but you can't sleep  
_ _Stuck in reverse_

 _When the tears come streaming down your face  
_ _When you lose something you can't replace  
_ _When you love someone but it goes to waste  
_ _Could it be worse?_

 _Lights will guide you home  
_ _And ignite your bones  
_ _And I will try to fix you_

* * *

 **THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME**

* * *

 _ **Chapel  
**_ **Beth's POV**

There were no sirens, no helicopter sounds, no revving of engines as a car tried to get away. Nothing at all but the search light, seeking, its brightness blinding in its intensity. I crouched behind one of the pews and peered up through the stained glass window as the light did another sweep of the area.

My heart was pounding in my chest, I looked down to see myself clutching at my glock, and felt a comfort in the sensation of its weight, something to grip. In my other hand I held my rosary - familiar in a different way.

Disconcerted, I looked around the chapel again. Had I come here to pray? Why did I have the gun out?

 _The lights._

Somehow I knew they were looking for me.

Standing, I crossed to an alcove, just beyond was a doorway leading outside. I peered through the darkness, the immediate area illuminated by a few dying candles on the stone ledge that encircled the small room.

Unexpectedly, a shiver ran down my spine and everything turned black as a shadow fluttered past these candles, landing behind me. It happened so fast, I hadn't even had a chance to raise the gun. _Demon,_ I thought. I spun, lifting my arms and aiming in the direction of where I thought it had landed. The rosary dangled from my wrist, the silver cross and anti-possession amulet shining from the candlelight.

"Who's there?" I asked, taking a step closer.

"Now is that any way to greet an old friend?"

I paused, the voice was familiar but had the echo of someone I hadn't seen in some time. Outside, another sweep of the searchlight flicked through the windows in front of me, and I saw the outline of a man standing ten feet away.

In that brief moment I saw his wings silhouetted and I realised I was under-armed.

With a sigh, I tucked the gun into the back of my jeans and stood up straighter. Fortunately I also recognised the voice.

"Ezekiel?"

With a flashing smile, he stepped out of the shadows - a tall, dark-haired man who looked more like a punk rocker than an angel with his leather jacket and spiked black hair. The angel had a taste for the slightly flamboyant, enjoying his edgy look that got him into places around the world with just a smile and a cheeky word or two. I wondered what he had been like back in the days when he had entered into the biblical squire Ezekiel, and passed out the word of God.

"Present and accounted for," the angel said, flashing me a beaming smile.

"What? How?" I swallowed hard, frowning. "We thought you were dead."

No one had seen him, or heard from him, since he'd gone to help Castiel take on the archangel protecting the prophet Chuck. My blood still ran cold at how things had gone down, how close we'd come to both stopping Lucifer, yet also losing everything.

Ezekiel snorted and shook his head. "Takes more than the wrath of Raphael to take me down…. apparently."

"Apparently?"

He shrugged and took a seat in the nearest pew, gesturing for me to join him, which I did, looking over at his pale complexion. Alive or not, he didn't look well.

"It seems someone else has other plans for me."

"Someone else?" I asked. "Someone like God?"

"Perhaps," he said cryptically. "No doubt Castiel would think so. But me? I have less faith in our prodigal father."

I was starting to realise we were not in a real location, I had been going to churches less and less the more we got into the Apocalyptic path. I was starting to doubt my faith, and it was wearing me at the edges. I looked around at the chapel again, parts of it seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. "Where are we?"

"A little chapel in Kentucky…. Eminence. You visited it shortly after the death of your father."

"Ah." I remembered. I had only been with the Winchesters a few weeks.

John had taken us to a place he knew to get me some new identification, a birth certificate that said I had been born a Sullivan - my mother's maiden name - and miles from where I really hailed from. Just like that I'd lost my identity, and joined a family I didn't know, on a journey I was fast having to keep up with. If it hadn't been for Dean, I doubt I would have made it through.

I closed my eyes and replayed the first night in Eminence, the utter desolation I'd been fighting on a daily basis. Trying to get up and join in the daily training with Dean and Sam, I had been forcing myself to keep my head above water.

 _That night I'd been alone in the chapel, eyes dry for the first time in the last week, I had cried so much that I could get any more tears to fall, and my voice was hoarse and ragged._

 _Sam had followed me, and walked into find me on my knees before the altar, bent over and almost hyperventilating … I couldn't cry, I couldn't scream, I had barely been able to breathe as the despair poured out of me. I heard him run, leaving me alone in the chapel, the final abandonment. I thought I might die from the pain._

 _I'd laid down, trying to suck in a much needed breath, and hearing the ragged sound of choking echo through the room as the doors swung open, and then footsteps ran toward me, and I was being lifted up. It had been Dean pulling me into the safety of his arms. I had grabbed at his arms, and then felt him shift me so that my back was to his chest, wrapping me tightly in his warm embrace. "It's okay, you're okay, just take a breath. In through your nose… slow and deep… out through your mouth."_

 _He'd pulled me back into the curve of his chest, my head resting back against his shoulder, and I'd managed a shuddering breath. "That's it. Just breathe. Don't think about anything. Just breathe, Beth. I'm here."_

I opened my eyes, smiling slightly at the memory; difficult yet beautiful because of the way I'd been taken care of.

"One of the hardest times of my life….." Ezekiel nodded as I said this.

"But also the moment you realised you weren't alone. It gave me a focal point to find you," he replied, and then pointed up at the lights. "Just like they are trying to do."

"Who?"

"Heaven, of course," he grinned, standing up. "They can't see past the protections Cas has put on you.

"Mm. That makes sense." I subconsciously ran my hands over my torso, and recalled the x-rays Dean and I had taken of our ribs, the Enochian was etched into the bone itself.

It had been something I'd not given a second thought to since it happened, but in moments like this I was grateful for the protection they gave us. I narrowed my eyes at Ezekiel and stared at him.

"How is it you can find me, but they can't?"

"I know you," he shrugged as if it was obvious. "I've been inside your head remember? Humans have routines, even in their dreams. They go to regular well-loved scenes and relive them. This is one of those places for you."

I didn't know if he had pinpointed the well-loved theme, but it was certainly a well-visited scene if nothing else. It seemed like a legitimate explanation.

"Where are you, then?" I asked.

"Hiding," he said, lifting a finger to his lips and grinning cheekily at me.

"From Heaven?"

"Who else?" He asked, shrugging again. "Like Castiel, I am not one of the most loved right now."

"Hmmm. Why is that?"

"Heaven likes their angels shackled and obedient. When I revealed myself, to save Anna, I had to go on the run. I lost my position in the garrison, any insider info that I had."

"I'm sorry," I said, but Ezekiel shook his head.

"I'm far from alone," he replied. "There are others, like me, who are not sure about the direction Heaven is moving in. Something isn't right. I would rather work from the shadows, to achieve true peace, than struggle from the inside. I prefer to be a bit more… free."

I smiled ruefully at the comment. Something about an angel choosing free will when they were supposed to have none was especially satisfying to me. Maybe it was because it felt like I had so very little free choice of late. We were running in circles, trying to find a way to get at Lucifer, and a way to kill him at the same time.

"I'm watching over you Beth," Ezekiel said. "All of you. But right now, I'm also recovering. I slip into your dreams often, just to check in. You don't see, but now you know."

* * *

 _ **Strip Club  
**_ **Dean's POV**

I loved this song. Seriously, my favourite for anything sweet and sexy. It _might_ have also been the main instigator for the pie nicknames I had for Beth too. Sugarpie seemed to stick more than anything, but when I was in the mood… that was _cherrypie._

 _She's my cherry pie_

 _Cool drink of water such a sweet surprise_

 _Tastes so good make a grown man cry_

 _Sweet cherry pie oh yeah_

I bobbed along to the music, eyes glued to the scene in front of me.

Me, a plush blue couch in a lounge and a private show… with the Devil herself.

I chuckled, watching as Beth strutted out on stage.

Most people had never asked me, and even if they had, I wasn't the type to confess that the biggest turn-on about Beth was her innocence. From the moment I'd caught her in my arms, on the day she'd been possessed by a demon, I'd loved her. Those big brown eyes staring up at me before she passed out, that had been all it took. She'd been mine to protect, and I'd spent every day since then trying to do that - trying and failing at times to protect her innocence.

But every now and then, her devil came out. Like now.

I watched, thoroughly enjoying the sight in front of me. Beth had on the most perfectly sexy devil outfit I'd ever seen. Red, tight, wrapped around her in straps of fabric with more skin than silver sequins. It all converged on a skimpy halter that barely kept her breasts in as she sashayed toward me, swinging her hips side to side before dropping down to her hands and knees.

"Oh, I take it all back. I love the devil…." I murmured and grinned, watching as she flipped her long, dark curls down her back, little red horns protruding from the top of her head. My eyes dropped down to her lush, red lips … so close, just wanting to lean forward and kiss…

I closed my eyes, waiting for the contact… but nothing!

Startled (and a little disappointed) I looked up seeing her back on her feet, rotating her hips and wriggling her ass at me, the disappointment faded as I watched her continue to dance for me. Oh man… I was one lucky… I closed my eyes again in appreciation, feeling my body respond to the thought of what I was going to do when I got my hands…

When I opened them again Beth wasn't alone. She was on the stage with a buxom blonde, long straight hair falling all the way down to her ass.

"Olivia?" I asked, leaning forward. She winked at me, and I chuckled, recalling the fantastic night Beth and I had spent with the beautiful woman. So she'd turned out to be a succubus - I could think of a lot worse ways to die… and it's not like it had come down to that. Olivia was the perfect compliment to Beth's devil, a little white babydoll nightie on with a fluffy halo. Though, truly the roles would be more appropriate if reversed - Olivia had been a bit of a devil, but that red outfit looked _amazing_ on Beth.

"Now, that's what I call peace on earth," I murmured, leaning forward to rest my arms on my knees. Beth and Olivia turned, smiling at each other, their lips hovering a whisper apart. Oh god how I loved this… every part of me wanted to get up on that stage and…

 _Screeeeech!_ The music came to an abrupt end. Beth and Olivia pulled away from each other and disappeared, leaving me staring at a redhead. Now I like redheads as much as the next guy, but this one was looking at me in a very non-sexy manner. Worse, I recognised her and that little smirk.

"Anna?" I asked. I could feel myself still reacting to the scene I'd just been watching, the way they'd been… _Enough! Not the time now!_ I shifted uncomfortably, the angel staring down at me.

"I was just, uh, working on a case,' I said lamely and she raised an eyebrow.

"This is what you dream about?" She asked. I straightened up, hearing the judgment in her voice. What was it to her what I dreamed about? Didn't she know how stressful my life was? I was lucky I wasn't in one of the Hell dreams that still occurred from time to time. If the Hell in my dreams consisted of Beth in a sexy devil costume, then hey, I figured it was a good day.

"Well...this is awkward. Why are you gate-crashing my head? Why don't you just swing by the motel?" I asked. She sighed and stepped off the stage to sit next to me.

"I can't find you," she said.

"Oh," I replied. _Riiiiight, of course._ "Cas did this thing." I waved my hand over my ribs, kind of generically because it was difficult to describe having a bunch of Enochian wards carved direction into your bone.

"Cas. Right. Now, there's a friend you can count on," she snarked, looking away.

"What?"

"He didn't tell you?" She asked, turning back to me.

"Tell me what?"

"Where I've been. Of course not. Why would he?" She looked away again, the expression on her face a little unreadable. She seemed … off… and that was saying something for Anna. Like most angels she was lacking in some of the finer points of human interaction. Which was odd being that she'd basically been raised as a human when she'd ripped out her grace, and fallen to Earth.

"Where have you been?" I asked, not understanding what was going on at all.

"Prison," she replied, her eyes lifted to the ceiling and she continued, "upstairs. All the torture, twice the self-righteousness."

I frowned, concerned by the thought that one, Heaven had a prison, but two, Anna had been in there and Cas hadn't told us, and three - torture? I cringed at the through.

"Why wouldn't he have told us where you were?" I asked. We'd worked so hard to protect her, seemed odd that we wouldn't be doing that now.

"Because he's the one who turned me in," she said. My expression must have said it all, because she smirked, and added, "don't look so shocked. He was always a good little soldier. Did anything under orders," she replied.

I shifted a little uncomfortably - I didn't know what to say to that because she was basically describing _me._ I had, up until he died, basically been following my Dad's orders for was long as I could remember. Sam had always called both me and Beth _good little soldiers._

"I didn't know," I said, clearing my throat. "Are you okay?"

"No," she said. "And I don't have long." She looked around the room as if expecting to get company any moment. "I broke out. Barely. They're looking for me. If they find me…"

"Okay," I said, nodding. "What do you need?"

"Meet me," she said. "Two-two-five Industrial. And, please, just hurry."

* * *

 _ **Motel Room  
Unknown Location**_

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Dean started awake beside me, sucking in a huge gasp for air. It had been a while since he'd woken straight out of a dream like that and I was instantly on alert given that I had awoken very similarly just moments earlier. I sat up and reached for him in the semi-dark room while thoughts of Ezekiel raced through my mind.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Yeah," he croaked out, nodding and clearing his throat. "Get dressed, we gotta go." He was already pulling out of my arms and on his feet by the time he finished talking.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I was feeling a lot more concerned as Sam started to stir in the bed next to us.

I wasn't unaccustomed to middle of the night up-and-go announcements when we were _hunting,_ or even when John had been with us and we'd be on a break. We had learned to pack light, sleep dressed, and move out within fifteen minutes of a call if necessary. It created a sense of dejavu in me, hearing Dean almost echo the words John would have said.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, rolling over to face us.

"Anna," Dean replied, reaching for his jeans on the floor. "She came to me in my dreams."

"Dreams?" I asked, "why? Wait..." Ezekiel's visit was starting to make sense. "She's looking for you." Dean nodded confirmation at me as he shrugged into his jeans and zipped them up.

"She can't locate us because of that mojo thing Cas did to us, she wants to meet."

"You sure you just weren't having a dream?" Sam yawned, Dean glared at him.

"Hey, I'll have you know she interrupted a very…" Dean stopped talking and I saw his eyes flick down over my body, and he licked his lips. "Well, let me just say she has shit timing as far as interrupting dreams goes."

I chuckled, watching him run a hand through his hair before he picked up his duffel and started to shove things into it.

"She's been in Heaven's prison," he said as he zipped it up. Beside us on the other bed, Sam looked up and frowned.

"Prison?" He asked.

None of this was making any sense. I'd just figured Anna was laying low after our run in with Heaven, I certainly hadn't expected her to come stalking through our dreams in the same manner that Ezekiel had just done. _And why Dean's?_

"That's what she said, and she gave me an address. 225 Industrial," Dean said, now pulling on his boots.

"Wait, wait, hang on," Sam said. "How do we know this isn't a trap?"

Dean stopped, looking at him. "Dude, it's Anna."

"Yeah, and she's an angel." Sam looked at us like that explained everything. "What? Most of them have been complete dicks to us. She's been locked away? Why? What do they want with her?"

"That's what I plan to find out," Dean answered.

"Ezekiel did seem to trust her…" I mused, climbing out of bed and slipping into my jeans. "But Dean, we really should call Cas first, see if he's heard anything." I wasn't quite ready to announce that I'd just seen Ezekiel in my dreams.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Yeah okay, because I got a few questions for him… she said he's the one who turned her in."

I felt sick to my stomach.

Fortunately for us, angels don't sleep. With one call to Cas, he was standing in our motel room, looking curiously at us.

"Yes?"

"Anna has been in Dean's dreams, she wants to meet," I said. Cas's face was impenetrable, as if he'd locked away all emotion.

"She can't be trusted," was his final response.

"Why not?" Dean asked. "She helped us out. She says _you_ turned her in. Just who shouldn't we be trusting?"

"I did what I was told." It wasn't the same. Something had happened. Cas had been wavering between Heaven and Earth for some time now. He had been with us in the beginning, and then he'd chosen to do Heaven's bidding. Now, he was on his own mission to find God. I wasn't sure where he stood anymore.

"She said you'd say that," came the reply. "Heaven's good little soldier."

Even as he said it, an uncomfortable emotion rippled across Dean's face, and I knew what he was talking about. I got it. We all did what we had to, with the information we had at the time. We all did what we had to do to keep those we loved safe.

"You don't understand," Cas said.

"Why don't you make me?" Dean countered.

Cas stared at Dean with a stern expression and I stood up, hands held out placatingly.

"Look, guys, it's late, we're all tired, we can argue the reasons later - we need to decide what we're doing now."

"Well, we're going to go see what Anna wants," Dean said, as if it was a good idea.

"Yeah, well, I have a bad feeling about doing that," I replied. My stomach was in knots about it, actually. Heaven was in turmoil, angels split with their loyalties, and preparing for war - plus I'd just come out of a dream where they were seeking us. - something didn't add up here. "Could she have just escaped, Cas?"

"No." He replied. There was truth in that statement.

Dean frowned at his certainty.

I had a thought running through my mind. It was a slightly crazy idea, but seemed better than sending Dean into a trap. He was still wanted by Michael for a Vessel after all, we were in hiding for a reason. This would be similar to something Cas had done with me when we were first working out our angel connection. It would just be taking it to the next level.

"She's expecting Dean, so it's not a far-fetched expectation for me to be there," I said.

"I'm not sure _any_ of us going is a good idea," Sam said. He'd been silently listening and pulling on clothes before taking a seat on his bed.

"That's why I should go alone…I have a plan," I said. They weren't going to like it, but right now, I believed Cas.

* * *

 _ **Warehouse  
**_ _ **Several Hours Later**_

 _ **Beth's POV**_

It was dark, the warehouse was even worse, I took a deep breath and stepped into the main factory room and looked around for Anna.

Nothing.

Dean and Sam were several blocks away in another motel, waiting. They hadn't liked the idea of me coming alone, but I wasn't really alone, it just looked like it.

The wind howled through the empty rafters and I heard a spooked voice call out from the other end of the warehouse.

"Hello? Who's there?" She sounded scared, jittery, like she was on the run. Dean had that part right.

I took a step forward, and one of the lights above me flickered then burst, a shower of sparks exploding above our heads. I looked up, slightly startled by that, then looked at the red-haired girl standing alone with her back turned to me.

"Hi Anna."

The girl turned to look at me, her eyes narrowing.

"Where's Dean?"

"Somewhere safe," I replied. "I'm sure you understand…"

A frustrated look flickered across her face before it was replaced with the expressionless gaze of an angel. Cold. Distant. _Calculating,_ I thought.

"I need to speak to him," she said, stepping closer.

"You can speak to me," I replied. She narrowed her eyes at me, contemplating.

"Why didn't Dean come with you?"

I tilted my head to the side, assessing her. "Let's just say, this is to make sure you're not luring Michael's vessel into a trap."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing arms over her chest.

"Well. If I didn't know any better," she said. "I'd say the Winchesters don't trust me."

"Just playing it safe," I said. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to Dean," she scowled.

"Whatever you have to say to him, you can say to me," I pushed. I didn't like the look in her eyes at all. Something felt... _off._

"I'd rather talk to Dean, it's about his brother."

" _My brother,_ too," I pointed out, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at her.

Anna sighed and shook her head. "I'd forgotten how stubborn you Winchesters are."

"I prefer determined." I didn't like the girl, that much had always been clear. She was a little too daring to flirt with a married man, and a little too slow to see what a mistake it was.

She was staring at me, her eyes piercing into mine and then she smirked. I raised an eyebrow at her, knowing she'd seen it, and was no longer fooled.

" _Hello Castiel_ ," Anna said, looking almost through me.

Having an angel come to the surface of your consciousness was always a bit of a challenge. Jimmy had once described it as feeling like you were strapped to a comet. For me, it felt like I was surfing a tidal wave, at risk of drowning any time. I held my breath as Castiel surfaced in me, and relinquished my body for his use.

"Hello Anna," Castiel replied, my own voice answering but taking on a more monotone sound. "What are you up to?"

"Who says I'm up to anything?"

"If you're out of prison, it's because they let you out. And they sent you here to do their dirty work." Cas said. It was almost like having an out of body experience, I was looking down on my own face, conversing with Anna, and feeling as if I was caught up in a soap opera, rather than my own life.

"And what makes you so sure?" Anna asked.

A rush of images hit me, of Castiel, strapped to a table, angels around him and blinding white light… pain… then they were walled up behind a sense of calm. A feeling of purpose. Angels closed in around me, Cas knew them all, and I felt myself give in to them, though it was simply a memory.

"Because I've experienced...Heaven's persuasion," Cas replied.

"You mean when you gave me to them," Anna countered.

"That was a mistake," Cas replied.

Cas had expressed regret on our way here, for his actions. We'd learned since then, exactly what the angels had been up to - what Uriel, Zachariah, and even Michael had been planning. I knew that Cas felt bad about not seeing it sooner - falling for the lies of the Angelic Host, but he and Ezekiel had done everything they could, when they realised, to try and stop Lucifer rising.

"Anna, whatever they sent you here to do…"

"They didn't send me. I escaped," she insisted.

"No one escapes," Cas replied.

"All these centuries, and you're underestimating me now?" Anna smirked. I almost believed her. If not for the underlying tension I was feeling from Cas, I would have fallen for it, given her what she wanted.

"If you're not one of them, then what do you want? Why do you want to talk to Dean about Sam?" Cas asked.

"I want to help," she said.

"You want to help?" Cas repeated, an almost dubious tone to his... _my_ voice. My attention was drawn to where his was, like I was seeing through his eyes. Sensing through his supernatural abilities, and in my mind's eye I saw something that my physical eyes couldn't have noticed.

"Then what are doing with that knife?" He said pointedly. She stared at him, watching, assessing. Had he truly seen it? Was he bluffing? But then she reached behind her back, under the jacket she was wearings, drew out the very knife he was talking about.

"I'm not allowed to defend myself?" She asked.

"Against whom?" Cas asked, and I felt my arm move. "That blade doesn't work against angels. It's not like this one." As he finished speaking, a long silver blade slipped out the sleeve of my leather jacket. I'd seen them before, long before he'd put it there on our way to the meeting with Anna. We'd used them when fighting demons at the Third Temple.

"Maybe you're not working for Heaven. But there's something you're not telling me," Cas said.

Anna paused, watching Cas and then she squared her shoulders. "Sam Winchester has to die."

 _What?!_ I heard myself say, though the words didn't come out of my mouth. Cas was in full control of my body, I was just along for the ride.

"I'm sorry but we have no choice," she continued. "He's Lucifer's vessel."

"He's not the only one," Cas replied. I saw a flash of Cole pass through my mind, and frowned. But it was gone in an instance, and I turned my attention back to the redhead in front of me… us.

Anna scoffed, shaking her head, her eyes full of amusement. "What, that guy Nick? He's burning away as we speak. No. Sam is the only vessel that matters." She spoke with such authority, like someone who had been converted. She truly believed what she was saying, and if there was something I did know, it was that zealots were dangerous.

I felt myself starting to panic. All of a sudden too confined where I was, I needed to get out, back to my own body. I needed Castiel gone. I needed to get back to Dean and Sam, to make sure that they were safe. Of course they could look after themselves, but I always felt better knowing I was there with them. From day one after my dad died, it had been the three of us and John, against the monsters. It was why Dean and I had come back from Minnesota, to find Sam, to save him.

"You know what that means?" Anna asked, completely oblivious to my train of thought. "If Lucifer can't take Sam, his whole plan short-circuits. No fight with Michael, no Croatoan virus. The Horsemen go back to their day jobs." Anna sounded so sure of herself. But it didn't matter, there was nothing in the world that would cause me to hand Sam over to her.

"Even if you could...kill Sam, Satan would just bring him back to life," Cas said.

"Not after I scatter his cells across the universe." I felt sick. I wasn't sure if it was me or Cas, I assumed it was me. He turned away, I saw my head shaking, Cas contemplating.

"They'll never find him. Not all of him." Anna said.

The silence was deafening. I wanted scream at her, hit her, _something._ She had turned, and for what? To do Heaven's bidding? _Heaven had just jump started the Apocalypse,_ and now they were having second thoughts on how to stop it?

"We'll find another way," Cas said finally. My eyes lifted to look at her, and the same determination Anna had, I saw in my own face.

"How's that going?" Anna smirked. "How's the Colt working out? Or the search for God? Is anything working? If you want to stop the devil, this is how."

"The answer's still no. Because Sam is my friend," Cas replied.

Anna stopped to look at him, her eyes seeing through me, to his very core. The angel inside of me was not the same angel she'd known when he'd turned her in.

"That's not just your vessel talking, and her human attachment. You've changed," she said.

"Maybe too late, but I have," he agreed. He turned back to her, looking at her with a sadness. "Anna, we've been through much together, but you come near Sam Winchester and I'll kill you."

He meant it too, I could feel it with every fibre in my body. Cas was well and truly on our side this time. I felt a rush of joy in knowing that, in being given the opportunity to see that. Now, however, it put him in as much danger as the rest of us.

Anna disappeared, right in front of our eyes, and I let out a breath.

" _Well… crap."_ I thought and Castiel's voice echoed back at me while I regained the use of my body.

" _Indeed."_

* * *

 _ **Motel Room**_

It hadn't taken long for us to return to the motel and fill the boys in with what was happening. We had to come up with a plan, and that plan was to find Anna so we could go on the offensive. Dean was struggling to acknowledge the shift from friend to foe in Anna, and he wasn't the only one.

Castiel was drawing a symbol with chalk on the table in the room. Dean was pacing, a bundle of nerves and energy that was ready to explode. He was shaking his head, frowning, and he stopped to look at me.

"Really? Anna? I don't believe it," he said, not for the first time since we'd returned.

"It's true," Cas said.

"So she's gone all Glenn Close, huh? That's awesome," Dean said. Cas straightened up from where he'd been leaning over the table, and threw Dean a confused look. It wouldn't be the first time that Dean had referenced pop culture only to have the angel lose track of the conversation: angels didn't tend to hang out on Earth watching TV.

"Who's Glenn Close?" Cas asked.

"No one, just this psycho bitch who likes to boil rabbits," Dean replied, Cas didn't look like he was any clearer about the scenario, but he he also seemed to decide it wasn't worth pursuing as he went back to what he was doing.

Sam had been quietly sitting on his bed while this discussion happened, and I could see that he was deep in thought. He hadn't said a word when Cas and I had told them both about Anna's plan.

"So the plan to kill me," Sam said, his voice tentative. "Would it actually stop Satan?"

"No, Sam, come on," Dean said instinctively. I stood up, shaking my head at Sam.

"Don't even think it," I said. Even with all the frustration and hurt I held for Sam, I would _never_ entertain that thought.

"Cas, what do you think?" Sam asked, looking at the angel. "Does Anna have a point?"

Cas looked up at Dean, and they shared an understanding in that moment. I was still linked in to some of Cas's emotions from having had him in my body. I felt a wave of trepidation wash through me, an almost urgent feeling followed by uncertainty. It wasn't mine, it had to be Cas. I looked at him, and then the doubt and all other emotion was pushed away like dust being swept under a rug. Cas glanced at Sam, shaking his head.

"No. She's, uh, Glenn Close."

Sam's head dropped back down as he stared at his hands. Clearly he didn't believe that any more than the rest of us. Of course it would throw a spanner in the works if something happened to Sam, but as far as either Dean or I were concerned, it wasn't happening.

"I don't get it," Dean said after a moment, gesturing to the table. "We're looking for the chick that wants to gank Sam? Why poke the bear?"

"Anna will keep trying. She won't give up until Sam is dead. So we kill her first," Cas said very practically.

"And now we're just killing angels?" Dean asked of me, coming to stand by my side. His hand slipped along the small of my back, and I leaned into it, pressing my side into his and feeling the comfort of his arm wrapping around my waist.

"So it seems," I said quietly, turning my head to look into his dark, concerned eyes. "I mean, if it's between her or Sam…" I left the sentence unfinished, we all knew there was no other choice for us.

Cas poured some oil into a bowl in the centre of the table and started to speak in a different language. "Zod ah ma ra la ...ee est la gi ro sa." The spell was finished with a blinding flash of red flame, and Cas staggered backwards to lean heavily on the back of a chair. I broke away from Dean and took a few quick steps toward him, seeing his eyes closed and his breath coming short and hard.

As I hesitantly reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, his eyes snapped open. "I've found her."

"Well, where is she?" Dean asked.

"Not where…" Cas said, standing up straight. "When. It's 1978."

"What?" Sam asked, standing up and joining Dean. "Why 1978? I wasn't even born yet."

"You won't be if she kills your parents," Cas said.

 _Oh. My. God._ He was right. It wouldn't be the first time we'd been sent back in time. Cas had sent Dean and I back to that time once before, it hadn't achieved much - in fact, we'd failed to stop the Yellow-Eyed Demon at all. If Anna was going back with a similar agenda, but instead of killing demons, she was going to kill John and Mary…

"Anna can't get to you because of me. So she's going after them," Cas said.

"Well then we need to go back there," I said. My mind was racing.

"Yeah, exactly," Dean agreed. "Take us back right now."

"And deliver you right to Anna?" Cas countered. He looked from me to Dean and then shook his head. "I should go alone."

"They're our parents. Cas, we're going," Dean insisted. I was looking at Cas, seeing what I'd sensed when he was inside me: he was weak, and there was flash of fear in his eyes.

"The more of us going back, the better…" I said. "We don't know how many angels she's going to have with her. We don't know that she's going alone."

"It's not that easy," Cas said, stepping away from us.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Time travel is difficult even with the powers of Heaven at my disposal," Cas said, turning around.

"Which got cut off," Sam said. I frowned, looking at the angel.

"So, what, you're like a Delorean without enough plutonium?" Dean asked.

"I don't understand that reference. But I'm telling you, taking this trip, with passengers no less…" he shook his head at us, a frown shadowing his face. "It'll weaken me."

"Then we don't go alone," I said, thinking it over. "Call in someone else to help. Call Ezekiel?"

Cas looked at me. "Ezekiel?"

I nodded. Cas looked at me contemplatively.

Dean cut in. "You said he went to help Cas with Chuck's archangel, who knows if he survived."

"If he did, he's not been in touch with me," Cas interjected. "But I think you know that." Ezekiel had gone into hiding before Cas was taken back to Heaven for his … _brainwashing._

"I can find him," I said.

I wasn't going to let Cas go alone, and I wasn't expecting him to do this without support. I sat down on the bed and looked up at Cas. "Put me to sleep," I requested.

"It's foolish, Beth," Cas said. "He's gone."

"No he's not," I said.

"It's too risky. Other angels could be listening in if you send out a call," Cas was frowning back at me, the realisation that Ezekiel was alive, hitting him harder than I'd expected.

"I'm not going to call. I'll wait for him to check in," I replied.

"Check in?" Dean asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll fill you in later, right now, I need to be asleep - I need to leave a message somewhere." I said.

"It's still risky," Cas said. "Even if you do think he'll find it, even if he really is alive."

"Cas!" I was already sitting on the edge of the bed, and I gestured impatiently to my forehead, waiting for the tap that would render me unconscious to the sweet oblivion of the dreamworld. Dean looked from me to the angel and sighed.

"They're our mom and dad. If we can save them, and not just from Anna... I mean if we can set things right, we have to try," Dean said, I could feel him looking at me - I knew what he was talking about. He wanted to warn Mary about the demon, to talk to my Dad… it had the potential to change our lives completely.

Cas sighed, coming to stand in front of me. "Just… whatever you are going to do, be careful." I nodded and then I felt everything go dark.

* * *

 _ **Motel  
Later that Night**_

 **Dean's POV**

Beth had not only left a message for Ezekiel - something about a note in a church, I had no idea what she was talking about, but she seemed sure he'd get it. She'd also called Cole, our older surrogate sister, who was apparently in the area. Cole had been a lone wolf since Dad's death, but Beth said she was ready for this fight, and she'd want in.

"I still think it's a bad idea," I said to Beth as she got off the phone from Cole one more time.

"She's a good hunter, Dean," Beth said. "We could use all the help we can get."

I sighed, something that was only echoed even louder than Cas. I couldn't have agreed more - Cole was a wild card. She could fight, I'd give her that, she was one of the best hunters I knew, but she was also unreliable when it came to her emotions around Dad. This was something I couldn't afford to stuff up. Beth was adamant though.

"This is foolish," the angel said.

"Sounds like something I need in on then," sounded an unfamiliar voice. Beth smiled as soon as she heard it, and everyone else in the room turned to look at a slim man of average height, with bright blue eyes and spiked black hair. Ezekiel dressed in leather pants and jacket, with a variety of chains and zips on them. He looked like he belonged in a punk rock band, and was most certainly _not_ what you expected when you thought angel. Then again, neither was Cas, I reflected.

"Ezekiel?" Cas asked.

"Hello brother, surprised to see me?"

"Uh, well, yes," Cas replied. I looked from Cas to Zeke, and pondered. Had Cas even known Zeke was alive? I doubted it given the expression of contemplation … which was saying something… on Cas's mug right now.

"I've been lying low since that encounter with Raphael. But, my debt isn't quite paid to the Winchesters," he said, looking at Beth with a short nod. I scoffed lightly, trying not to let my skepticism show too much. I still wasn't as onboard with this rebellious angel act like Beth was. Zeke had risked my wife a lot during the breaking of the seals - she'd nearly died, _would have died,_ if it hadn't been for Zeke residing in her for a time while they healed together.

I still didn't like how close I'd come to losing her - and not just on that occasion. There had been the time when she'd been injured by my own hand, when I had been suffering from ghost sickness and hallucinated her as a demon. I'd attacked her, and physically I'd broken her body before Zeke kicked in and took her away from me. It had been two weeks before I'd even seen her again, and a lot longer for us to get anywhere near back to normal.

I wasn't the only one with my doubts. Castiel approached Zeke and looked closely at him, as if trying to see beyond the body.

"You know we're going after Anna?" Cas asked after a moment. I crossed my arms and watched as Zeke nodded slowly. He'd had a serious hard on for the girl, or so I gathered from Beth, risking his neck to get her free from Uriel and Castiel.

"I'm aware."

"You won't stop us from doing what needs to be done?" Cas asked.

"If it comes down to it, but don't ask me not to try and talk to her," Zeke said.

"This is a mistake," Cas said to Beth.

"Anna was our commanding officer, Castiel," Zeke replied. I could see the hesitation on Beth's face as she looked from one angel to the other.

"And more, to you," Cas said.

"That was a long time ago," Zeke replied. "I owed her. But if she is doing Heaven's bidding… then, I will do what is right."

"I'm glad you're here," Beth said after a moment, moving to hug him. Zeke, unlike Cas, was a lot more familiar with the customs of Earth, having walked here more than most. He enthusiastically returned the hug, squeezing her tight.

"So, where are we off to?" He asked, looking around the room.

"Not where, when," I said. "1978. Anna is trying to kill our mother before we're born."

"Ooof!" He exclaimed, shaking his head. "You don't like to do things by halves, do you folks?"

"Can you help us?" Beth asked, and Zeke nodded after a moment of thought.

"I will do my duty on this one."

"Which is?" I asked gruffly, stepping closer.

"What Anna is trying to do is wrong. The timeline needs to be preserved," Zeke replied, looking to me, his piercing blue eyes alight with passion. "If she cannot be talked out of killing Mary Winchester, then I will do what has to be done. You, and your brother, you must be born."

I let those words sink in, feeling the weight behind the statement. I felt like there was something more at play here, something I was missing, but Zeke didn't elaborate, and I didn't know where to start with asking for more information. Instead I turned my attention to the next step.

"Then that just leaves…" My voice was cut off by the knock on the door. "Ah…" I was frankly surprised she'd knocked. I reached out and opened the door. "Just in time. Hey, short stack!" Cole hated that nickname, which was why I used it of course.

Cole was standing in the doorway, looking pensive. She smirked at the nickname and rolled her eyes, stepping into the room so I could close it behind her. "Hey Dean," she said. I looked sideways at her, not making it obvious that I was checking out how she was faring. For Cole, she looked in good shape. No obvious injuries, her blonde hair was loose and flowing in curls around her shoulders, her brown eyes appeared clear and bright - that made me feel a bit better; Beth had said she hadn't been sleeping much of late, and in the past that had made for a somewhat unpredictable Cole.

I finished packing weapons into our bag, and glanced over at the others. It seemed as if we were ready to go. Cole was helping Sam with some more weapons, stashing a knife into the back loop of her belt. Ezekiel had moved to stand next to Cas, and they were conversing with a very sombre look. After a moment, Cas shook his head at Ezekiel and stepped away.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Not really," Sam replied, but he moved a bag of supplies on to his shoulder and joined the angel just the same, Cole alongside him. I took a position opposite Cas and then glanced at Sam.

"Bend your knees," I advised. Cas stepped in between Sam and I, and put his hands on our shoulders. Ezekiel did the same to Cole and Beth. Suddenly, the world faded and we were on our way.

* * *

 _ **Lawrence, Kansas  
**_ _ **1978**_

 _ **Dean's POV**_

It was raining when we landed: appearing right in the middle of the street. I felt Sam yank me out of the path of a car, as the driver honked his horn at us, slamming his breaks on.

"Get out of the street!" He yelled at us. We were already moving, narrowly avoiding getting hit by oncoming traffic before making it to the sidewalk.

I didn't see half our team anywhere. That made my heart skip a beat. I was nervous enough about this time jump without people going missing.

"Did we make it?" Sam asked as we moved out of the path of a few cars, and looked around our surroundings.

 _Beth? Where is Beth?_

I pointed at a couple of cars and nodded. "Unless they're bringing Pintos back into production, I, uh, I'd say yes. Where's Beth and Cole?" I couldn't see them anywhere. My heart leapt into my throat, but I shoved it back down so that Sam couldn't see. I had to remain calm, I had to...

"Cas? Ezekiel?" Sam asked. I started to look around in earnest. They had to be somewhere!

"Beth?!" I called out, drawing a few glances from people walking by. I took a few steps along the sidewalk and spotted a familiar tan coloured coat.

"Cas?" I asked, breaking into a run. "Cas! Hey, hey, hey," I said, dropping to my knees next to the angel who was lying against the back of a car. Cas's head lolled to the side when I reached him, and I slipped my arm around his shoulders.

"Take it easy. Take it easy. Are you all right?" I asked.

"I'm fine. I'm much better than I expected." Cas said. That didn't make me feel any better.

I got my arm under his and helped him to his feet, Sam coming beside us to support from the other side. Cas coughed, a splatter of blood coming out his mouth and hitting the pavement at his feet. I didn't even have time to grimace before he passed out, and I caught him, looking over at Sam in consternation.

Oh this was not going well.

* * *

 _ **Blue Earth, Minnesota  
1978**_

 _ **Beth's POV**_

"Oh boy, something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," Cole said from beside me as soon as we opened our eyes. I felt my heart sink, taking a deep breath as I looked across the road at the familiar church with its attached house. We definitely weren't in Kansas, we were in Minnesota and I was staring at the house that Dean and I now owned… over two decades into the future.

"Dammit," I muttered. "Why are we here?"

"Best guess?" Ezekiel's voice called out from next to a tree where the angel was sitting cross-legged on the ground, looking a little pale around the edges. "Beth's tie to here was stronger than Dean's desire to go to Kansas."

"No shit Sherlock," Cole said, dropping her bag to the ground with a sigh, frowning over at the church.

"But, I wanted to go to Lawrence!" I said, shaking my head.

"I should have split the boys up," Ezekiel sighed. "Sent you with Dean and Cas."

"I don't understand," I frowned. "I have no tie to Blue Earth, not in this timeline."

"Time travel isn't exact," Ezekiel said, taking a deep breath. "There's… a lot that goes … into it. Our emotions can get the better of us. It might not be the place… but a person..." His words stopped short.

"Are you okay?" I asked, seeing his eyes close as he took another deep breath.

Cole was moving, already in nurse mode, and kneeling in front of him.

"He's not, he's… weak," she said.

Ezekiel smirked, his head lolling to one side. "Hey, I'd like to see you try what I just did," he countered. I squatted down beside him and frowned.

"You've been in hiding because you're injured," I said, thinking back to our conversation in my dream. Ezekiel sighed and met my eyes, I saw the truth. "You should have told me you weren't up to this."

"Like I said," he replied. "I owe a debt."

"Not at this cost," I said, shaking my head.

"You needed me," he said. "Cas couldn't have brought you all here, not now." Even as he said it, I knew it was true. Both he and Cas were suffering from a weakness that hadn't really been explained, other than that Cas had been cut off from Heaven. I wondered if Ezekiel was in a similar situation if he was in hiding.

"We need to get him somewhere to rest," Cole said.

I looked over at the church again, feeling my body almost compelled to go in there. "Come on, we can go inside and think about what we do next."

One thing that hadn't changed in at least twenty-five years was the interior of the chapel. It was basic, wooden pews either side of a carpeted aisle, the altar at the front with a simple cross, and to the right a large angel statue: every time I saw it I lost my breath.

"The chapel is always open, well… since I've known it anyway, but it's probably empty at this time of day," I said, helping Ezekiel into the back row and glancing worriedly at him as he lay down, and almost immediately passed out.

"Doesn't mean it's gonna stay that way," Cole muttered, looking around the room. "Didn't you say your Dad moved here when you were little?"

"Yeah, before I was born," I said, nodding absently at the question, though my focus was more on the angel with us. "Is… is he gonna be okay?" I gestured to Ezekiel, who was breathing - albeit rather shallow.

"Uh," Cole looked at him and shrugged. "I ain't Doctor Who, I sure as hell don't know anything about time travel or its effects on angels."

Sighing, I wrapped my arms around myself. "He went up against an archangel with Cas, or at least, I think he did. He really wasn't up to this trip."

"Or maybe it knocks them all around like this," Cole suggested. "Just pray that Anna got zapped like this too."

I nodded, looking over at the angel statue.

"Did you say… your parents came here _before_ you were born?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Dad studied with Pastor Jim." I suddenly knew why I we'd been thrown into this part of the country. "In fact…"

"Oh boy," Cole said, seeing the connection at the same time.

"Yeah, exactly," I said, "they're already here!"

"That would be my take on it, yeah," she said, and I finally noticed that Cole was staring into the front entrance of the chapel, the one that led behind the altar to a preparation room for the pastor before his masses. I knew that it also connected to the side of the house as a shortcut into the residence.

In the doorway was a younger version of my dad: tall, blonde, sparkling eyes and a magnetic smile. He tilted his head sideways when his eyes locked with mine, and shook his head.

"Didn't think I'd ever see you again," he commented, loud enough for us to hear. With a few quick steps he made his way closer and I fidgeted next to Cole, my blood rushing to my ears.

"Da… Patrick," I said, correcting myself. "It's been a long time."

"Patrick? Really?" He asked, "don't try to fool me." His smile fell from his face, and he crossed his arms over his chest, eyes landing on mine with a knowing. I felt like I was six years old again, in trouble for sneaking into the church and stealing communion wafers.

"I… uh…"

"I know who you are, Beth," he said, watching me. "Your mother told me."

"My…" I couldn't even finish the sentence. _He knew._ In that moment I wanted nothing more than just cave beneath his look, and tell him everything. I just wanted my _dad._

"I think we need to talk," it wasn't a question, it was a statement. With a glance at Cole and Ezekiel, he raised his eyebrow and nodded toward the door behind him. "You can take him into the house, first door on the right there's a bedroom - he'll be more comfortable in there."

Cole nodded, eyes wide, and then she grasped Ezekiel to roust him from his slumber. "Thanks," she said, getting the angel's arm around her neck before helping him to his feet. Ezekiel shook himself awake, looked at Dad then over at me with a frown, before following Cole's prompts to move.

Dad hesitated for a moment, but when he saw them moving unassisted he turned back to me, his eyes softening as they looked me over. I held my breath, scared that it might all go away if I spoke. Fortunately, he was the first to break the silence.

"I presume the injured one is an angel," he said, as if it was an everyday event. "The question is… why are you here, now?"

* * *

 **Lawrence, Kansas  
**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

We'd checked into the nearest motel, honeymoon suite - 5 nights. I'd slapped a bunch of cash down on the counter and insisted that there be no interruptions. The man, who looked like something out of a Woodstock advertisement, sporting long John Lennon hair, a rainbow bandana, and round spectacles just looked me up and down, maybe amused by the statement.

"Yeah. Don't sweat it. Want to buy some dope?"

I liked this guy.

It wasn't ideal leaving Cas alone, but I had no choice. We were dealing with more than one emergency here. First, there was the mystery of where Ezekiel, Beth and Cole were, and then we had to find Mom and Dad before Anna did.

I pushed the concern for Beth to the back of my mind. Sam had already given me the lecture when I started to freak over her location. He was right. She was competent, she had Cole and another angel with her. I knew she'd be okay wherever she was, even though it didn't make me feel any better - I could protect her if I didn't know where she was!

Unfortunately she wasn't the only one who needed protecting - and she would argue that she didn't need me to protect her at any stage - but old habits died hard. Just the same, I couldn't let it distract me from the whole reason we were here.

After I left Cas, I walked outside, looking for Sam who had gone to find a phone booth. There were more of them around in this timeline - I shook my head wondering how anyone had survived before cellphones. I could see my brother at the end of the street on the corner, flipping through a phone book.

A couple of people sauntered past Sam as he ripped a couple of pages out of the phone book, and then looked at me hurrying toward them. I nodded my head toward a man with a giant mustache as we crossed paths.

"I mean, the mustaches alone…" I said with a grin to Sam, reaching his side and seeing him chuckle. I sobered up slightly, thinking about what needed to come next. "Right, we're paid up for four nights. I told the manager, 'Do not disturb no matter what.' You know what he says? 'Yeah. Don't sweat it. Want to buy some dope?'

Sam snorted, shaking his head.

"I can't believe we are here," he said, turning to look around the town where our parents had grown up.

"We ought to stick around here, buy some stock in Microsoft," I said, thinking about all the insider trading we could do. We'd be rich and never have to run another credit card scam again.

"Yeah, we might have to if Cas doesn't recover. Is he all right?" Sam said.

"What do I look like—Dr. Angel, Medicine Woman? He'll wake up. He's, you know, tough for a little nerdy dude with wings," I said.

"If he landed like that, hopefully, so did Anna. Should buy us some time." Sam pointed out.

"Right, so what are we going to do about Beth?" I asked.

Sam stopped short and shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "She'd be here by now, if she was nearby."

"Well, we don't know that Sam, it's not like we set a meeting point," I said.

"True, which means she'll do exactly what we're about to do," Sam pointed out, holding up the pages he'd just ripped out of the phone book. "She'll find the nearest phone book, figure out where Mom and Dad are, and go there."

I nodded thoughtfully. He was right, and he knew it. I knew it too. Didn't mean I had to feel happy about it. I decided to let it go, he'd won the argument.

"So, did you find 'em?" I asked, gesturing to the phone book.

"Yeah. Uh, the Winchesters. 485 Robintree," he said.

I grinned. I could hardly wait to see Sam's face when he saw Mom, and I was quietly hoping that he was right about Beth and we'd find her there waiting for us. "Let's go pop in on the folks," I said.

* * *

 _ **Blue Earth, Minnesota**_

 _ **Beth's POV**_

"I know this is going to seem sudden, but I really need a car," I said to Dad as he led the way from the chapel into the kitchen. Cole saw us and followed along, leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"To do what?" He asked.

"We need to get to Lawrence," I said. "As soon as possible."

He paused, looking from me, to Cole and back again. "That's a six hour drive."

"I plan to make it in less," I said with a determined look. "Mary's life might depend on it, John's too."

He visibly paled and then nodded. "We'll take the Fury."

"Wait, I didn't say you were…"

"I'm coming, Beth. You want my car? You get me too," he said. "Besides, Mary is my sister, John my friend." It was said with such a certainty that I knew I didn't have much choice. I reflected quickly, seeing Ezekiel's point about how my emotions had pulled us here. Maybe there was a reason for that.

"Okay, but I'm driving," I said with a grin.

"Sure," Dad shrugged, tossing me a set of keys. "How bad a driver can you be? I'll be the one teaching you."

Cole snorted and let out a short laugh. "Oh man, you have noooo idea who she learned from." Dad gave her a confused look, and I shot her a warning look, then pushed past to the room Ezekiel was in. He was awake, sitting up on the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

He turned to me, shaking his head. "Better than Castiel will be, to be certain. But time travel, it's no laughing matter, Beth. I will must go and find him, make sure that he's all right."

"What?" I asked, looking alarmed. "You want us to take on Anna alone?"

"Isn't that why you brought Cole? And you have your father, not to mention Dean and Sam when you find them."

"We have no idea what we're going up against,' I said.

"Exactly why I need to find Castiel - to be ready to get you all home. I said I'd get you here, I didn't say I'd fight," Ezekiel said. "There are forces at play in time travel, paradoxes, you can't simply come in and mess around with a timeline."

"But that's exactly what Anna is doing!" Cole said, coming into the room.

"Which is why I _am here,"_ he replied. "To set it right. But Beth," he turned to look at me. "I must warn you that you should not try to influence the past too much. Simply maintain it."

"I thought you were the rebel," I said with a sad smile.

"I am," he grinned. "But not when it comes to the past. We don't know what might happen to the world if we make too many changes."

Dad had joined us, and as I looked up at him I saw the nod he gave Ezekiel. An understanding seemed to pass between them, and then I saw him make a decision. I'd seen it a thousand times before, the silent contemplating and then the final determined look on his face when he had come to a decision.

Often I hadn't liked the decision.

I certainly felt like it wasn't going to be different this time either.

* * *

 _ **Lawrence, Kansas  
John & Mary's House  
Later That Evening**_

 _ **Dean's POV**_

Stealing cars was even easier in 1978, mostly no one even bothered to lock them. I was in my element - eventually deciding on a blue coupe. We were parked across the street from the Impala now, waiting and watching. I felt nervous. The absence of Beth was starting to get to me.

We'd gone to the house, but no one - including Mom, Dad, or Beth - was there. So with Sam in tow, I had driven us around town to see if anyone caught our attention. After an hour or so, Sam had convinced me that we needed to stake out the house instead. We'd seen Mom and Dad come home about half an hour earlier, and were waiting to see if Beth would show up, and to size up the area for any unusual activity.

My mind had turned to the amazing condition of the car we were riding in. It was a gem of a thing, almost straight off the lot. Beautiful.

"This is crazy," Sam said, leaning forward in the seat and looking out the window.

"I know, look at how new she is," I said. "Like… pristine!"

Sam turned to look at me, rolling my eyes at the same time. "You are too precious for this world," he said.

"What?!"

"I wasn't talking about the car, Dean," Sam said, and then chuckled from the passenger seat.

"Oh," I replied, looking a little sheepish but then grinning at him. "Well, she is!"

Sam nodded at the door and a shadow moving inside the living room.

"Come on, let's go, we've waited long enough" Sam said, climbing out of the car and leaving me scrambling to follow.

"Sam!" I said, racing after the more eager sibling. "Sam. Wait. Wait, wait, wait." Sam stopped, turning to look at me as I crossed the street to him.

"Dean, Anna could show up any second," he said.

"What exactly are we gonna march up there and tell 'em?" I countered. The last time Beth and I been here - in this timeline, truth had not been exactly on our side.

"Uh, the truth."

"What, that their sons are back from the future to save them from an angel? Gone Terminator? Come on. Those movies haven't even come out yet," I said.

"Well, then tell her demons are after 'em. I mean, she thinks you a hunter, right?"

"Yeah, a hunter who disappeared right when her dad died. She's gonna love me," I pointed out. Maybe that's why I was hesitating about going in. "She didn't even _see_ Beth before we were both transported back to the future!"

I paused, thinking it over and nodding ever so slightly. "Just follow my lead."

Without waiting any longer, I turned and walked up the steps to the front porch of the house, ringing the doorbell. Sam was silent, and trudged up behind me. It felt like an eternity, but finally the door swung open.

"Hi, Mary," I said to the woman standing in front of us. She looked the same. Still beautiful, still young and vibrant. She looked from me and then over to Sam, assessing us within a second.

"You can't be here," she said; my heart sank.

"I'm sorry if this is a bad time," I said.

"You don't understand," she cut in. "I'm not…" Her attention shifted from me to Sam, and when I looked sideways I could see him staring at her in awe. Mum frowned slightly and then looked at me. "I don't do that anymore. I have a normal life now. You have to go."

She started to close the door, but I stepped forward, holding my hand out and bracing against it.

"I'm sorry, but this is important, okay?"

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat and then the door opened wider, revealing Dad, _young Dad,_ in simple slacks and a sweater, with his hair neatly combed, and a clean shaven face. I felt my jaw drop, almost stunned at the sight.

Mary smiled at him, and started to explain. "Sorry, sweetie, they're just…"

"Mary's cousins," I smiled. John looked from us to Mary, who forced an awkward smile, but didn't argue. I hoped that he didn't remember seeing me in the lot or diner the last time I'd come back in time.

"Yeah, we couldn't stop through town without swinging by and saying 'hey', now, could we?" I continued, stepping forward and holding my hand out to John. "Dean."

"You look familiar," John said, taking my hand and shaking it. _Damn!_

"Really?" I asked, shrugging. "Yeah, you do, too, actually, you know? We must have met sometime. Small towns, right? Got to love 'em," I was giving the performance of my life. Dad seemed to take his explanation at face value, nodding.

He then turned to hold his hand out to Sam. "I'm John."

Sam stared for a moment, and then hurriedly accepted his hand, shaking it.

"This is Sam," I said when Sam wasn't able to voice his name.

"Sam. Uh, Mary's father was a Sam," Dad said thoughtfully. Sam smiled and nodded at him, still speechless.

"Uh, it's a—it's a family name," I said quickly, watching Sam as he awkwardly held on to Dad's hand long past the moment he should have let go.

"You okay, pal? You look a little spooked," Dad said and Sam quickly dropped his hand, nodding.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Just a...long trip."

"Yeah," I confirmed with a smile.

"Well, These guys were just on their way out," Mum said, shooting me a pointed look that told us all that we were not welcome here.

"What? They just got here. Real happy to meet folks from Mary's side. Please come on in for a beer," Dad said, smiling at us all.

"Twist my arm," I grinned, stepping toward the threshold of the door. Dad smiled at me, turning to lead us further into the house as Mom glared in my direction. Ignoring her, I pushed past and into the hallway, leaving Sam and Mom to awkwardly follow.

* * *

 **Des Moines, Iowa** _ **  
**_

 _ **Beth's POV**_

We'd been on the road for a while. Ezekiel had stubbornly stayed at the chapel with Pastor Jim to rest. They were having an in depth conversation about Heaven and Hell when we'd left. I found myself a little lost without him, like we were leaving someone behind, but I also had his reassurances that he could take care of himself, and resting was the best thing for him right now. When he was ready, he would transport himself to Lawrence.

I finished filling up the tank with gas and tilted my head to the side at the way Dad stared at me as he came out of the gas station.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head. "You look so much like your mother," he added after a moment.

I beamed at him. My mom was the most beautiful woman on the planet in my opinion. She had always had that surreal and exotic feel to her with vibrant blue eyes like sapphires. Dad had often commented that when he'd finally taken notice of her eyes, my mother had become the only woman for him.

"Where is Mom?" I asked. I couldn't believe I hadn't already asked.

"Illinois," he responded. "Visiting your grandmother and uncle."

"You didn't go with her?" I felt panicked, and I think it sounded in my voice as Dad shot me a concerned look.

"I had a … I only just got back from a …"

"A hunt," I finished for him. He nodded and climbed behind the wheel of the car. I slipped into the passenger side and looked at Cole who was caught up in one of the books she'd borrowed from Pastor Jim. I wasn't sure what it was about… but she'd pretty much ignored us for the last few hours to read it.

"I knew you were both hunters when you showed up at Mary's last time. But, it still seems so far removed from our lives now. What happened to get you to this point, Beth?" Dad asked.

"Oh it's a long story," I sighed as he pulled away and back on to the interstate.

"I've got time," he said, gesturing to the road in front of us.

"What happened to not influencing the timeline?" I asked.

Dad frowned for a moment and stared ahead at the road.

"Easier said than done," he said after a while, looking across at me. "I don't believe in coincidences. You're here for a reason, tell me everything."

* * *

 **Lawrence, Kansas  
**

 _ **Dean's POV**_

Sam was starting to get on my nerves a bit. He wasn't playing it cool at all. In fact, he was almost the exact opposite! Sitting on the edge of the couch, he hadn't stopped staring at Mom since we'd all entered the living room. Mom was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with the attention, and everyone in the room - except Sam apparently - could read it in her body language.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sam?" Dad asked. Sam's gaze broke from away from Mom to look a him, and it was as if he was being pulled out of daze.

"W—oh. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm just, um—You are so beautiful," Sam said, looking at Mom again. Dad leaned forward, curiously gazing at Sam. I rolled my eyes and had to stop myself from hitting Sam upside the head.

"He means that in a—a non-weird, wholesome, family kind of a way," I said, shooting my brother a warning glance. Sam nodded quickly, breaking his eyes away and looking down at his hands.

"Yeah, right."

"We haven't seen Mary in—in quite some time, and—See, she's the spitting image of our mom. I mean, it's—it's…" I lost my words. It was all I could do to not stare at her myself.

"Eerie," Sam finished my sentence. Dad didn't seem convinced.

"So, how are you guys related?"

"You know, uh, distantly," I said vaguely. I had to be careful. Presumably Dad knew all Mom's immediate family, so if we were too close with our story, he'd see through it.

"Oh. So you knew Mary's parents?" Dad asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Mary's dad was, uh, pretty much like a grandpa to us," I nodded. It would be interesting to see what had happened after I'd been catapulted back into the future once Yellow Eyes raised Dad from the dead.

"Oh. That was tragic—that heart attack," Dad said, reaching over to take Mom's hand in his. Mom glanced down, nodding silently.

 _Ah._

"Yes, it was," I agreed. So that was the story.

"So, uh, what are you guys doing in town, anyway?" Dad asked. Man, I was starting to think this had been a mistake. This guy was a huge change to the Dad I'd always known. The strong, silent, commanding type who didn't so much converse with you as order you around. It was starting to unnerve me, I felt like I was going to screw up and then he'd know… which was worse than just telling him the truth.

"Uh, business, you know," I said after a moment.

"Oh, yeah? What line of work?"

"Plumbing," Sam said at the same time I replied.

"Scrap metal."

Every one of us, except Dad, cringed at the bungle. Mom practically jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing in alarm.

"Oh, gosh. It's almost seven. I hate to be rude, but I got to get dinner ready." Her voice was light, but carried a wave of warning and dismissal. Dad on the other hand, he was still seeing the opportunity to quiz family of Mom's - something he didn't get usually.

"Maybe they could stay," he suggested. Mom's face was stern as she answered.

"I'm sure they have to leave," she said. There was a shrill ring from the kitchen, and I recognised it as the old rings of wall mounted phones. Dad looked toward the other room and stood up.

"Uh, look, please stay," he said, looking from me to Sam. "You know, it would mean a lot to me. I haven't met much of Mary's side of the family." With that he left the room to answer the phone.

As soon Dad left the room Mom zeroed in on us.

"You have to leave. Now."

"Okay, just listen…" I tried to reason.

"No, you listen," she cut in. " Last time I saw you, a demon killed my parents. Now you waltz in here like you're family? Whatever you want—no. Leave me alone."

"You and John are in danger," Sam replied, turning on the puppy dog eyes. Mom frowned, looking at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Something's coming for you," I said. She looked back at me, instantly alert. It was the hunter inside. That never died, and I knew she would do whatever it took to protect herself and Dad.

"Demon?"

"Not exactly," I said, shaking my head.

"Well, what then?"

Dad had never known about angels. Had he? It had never been in his journal. His best friend Patrick O'Malley - Beth's dad - had been an expert in them, but Dad himself had never written about them anywhere. Why was that? Would Mom believe me?

"It's kind of hard to explain, okay? It's—it's…"

"An angel," Sam supplied, getting straight to the point.

* * *

 _ **Outside Kansas City, Kansas**_

 **Beth's POV**

"And so...I just don't know what to do about that now," I said, continuing to spill my feelings to Dad. We'd been talking for hours. Cole had fallen asleep in the back, and that had given me a freedom to simply let everything out. I'd found myself talking about Dean going to Hell, and the way Sam had betrayed me for Ruby. I told Dad about how I'd killed her - the evil that had plagued our family for centuries.

Ezekiel's warnings about changing the course of the future too much still echoed in my mind - and Dad agreed with him, so I had skipped over _how_ Dad had died, and Mom too, and simply said that after they'd died John had taken me in. I wanted to say something, to do something about it. But at the same time, if I told him - would that change my future? What would happen to me, to Dean… or Sam, if I never joined the Winchesters?

Could I risk it? Could I be that selfish to _not_ tell him? Was Dean more important to me than my own father, than my mother?

We were less than half an hour from Lawrence. I had time, I kept telling myself. I could still tell him.

Dad glanced sideways at me and then started to slow the car to the side of the road beside the Kansas River. I felt my heart leap into my throat as he brought us to a stop.

"What are you doing?" I asked urgently. "We can't stop!"

"Yes, we can," Dad said. "A few moments won't hurt anything."

I didn't agree, but there was no arguing. Dad ordered me out of the car, and then followed his own instruction, walking to the river bank and sitting down, patting the ground beside him.

Following, I took a seat on the soft grass and took a deep breath.

"You've been through a lot, Beth," he said, looking at me. "I'm sorry I'm not going to be there to help you through that." He held up a hand as I started to protest, and I fell silent, wringing my hands desperately in my lap.

"The John you're describing to me doesn't exist at the moment. He's a different man. We're about to rush into a war we know nothing about," Dad said. "But I believe you, your mother has always said that darkness is coming - and we need to be ready. Mary has chosen to run from that, turned her back on hunting. My path continues to prepare."

I nodded, biting my lip. "Yeah, but…"

"You're a hunter, that much is obvious. You have no idea how proud that makes me - you're an extraordinary woman Beth." I smiled at him, feeling myself blush. "But you're at risk of losing something that will get you through this hard life." In puzzlement, I looked at him, seeing the kindness that I'd always taken for granted. For a moment, I heard the last, awful, words I'd spoken to him.

"Wh….what's that?" I asked.

"Forgiveness."

"What?" I asked. I frowned at him. "But I forgive… it's…. Dad there's days that seems like all I do!"

"You do the lip service, out of obligation. You forgive Sam because you love him, because he's a brother to you, but you haven't let the actions and hurt go. You forgive Dean for taking your place in Hell, but you're still angry he did that and left you alone. You still hold endless judgment and anger at yourself for failing to protect either of them, or John… or me."

I looked up from where I'd been watching my hands wringing together, and I opened my mouth to tell him.

"Dad, when you…"

Holding up a hand, he silenced me. He didn't want to know. Was it my selfishness that would push me to say how he died? Could I respect his wishes?

"Whatever happens to me," he said. "It isn't your fault, Beth."

A sob escaped my throat before I knew it was coming. "Yes it is," I whispered. "You have no idea…."

"No," he shook his head, reaching a hand out to cup the side of my face. My lips trembled as I felt the tears start to roll down my cheek. "You'd never hurt me Beth."

I couldn't tell him how wrong he was. So I told him the one saving grace that I held on to every night since Sam had opened Lucifer's cage. The one thing that should have been a victory, but now felt hollow to me.

"I killed her," I whispered. "I got our revenge."

"You have to let it go," he said softly. I shook my head.

"I can't."

"You can. And if you don't, that hatred will consume you. You will lose far more than holding on to the hurt gains you."

I was crying. I had no other thought other than for the first time in so, _so long,_ I had my Dad's arms around me, holding me as I sobbed my heart out and allowed him to comfort me. I leaned into his embrace, half in his lap, half on the ground beneath us. He wrapped his strong arms around me, and I buried my face in his chest, the scratchy wool of his sweater causing my nose to itch. Still I couldn't pull away.

Only Dean had made me feel this safe, and he was God knows where.

And I was still angry at him. I said as much.

"Sometimes we make decisions that don't make sense, we just do the best we can with the information we have at the time," Dad's voice washed over me. "Anger is like flowing water," he continued. "It's fine, so long as you allow it to flow. As soon as you build a dam and keep it locked inside, it will stagnate. Stagnant water can become polluted with the dark thoughts and broken dreams inside us. You must let the anger go, allow it to flow. It can fuel you when you need it, Beth, but don't let it stagnate. Allow your forgiveness to float upon the water like a leaf, washing away with the anger. Allow yourself to feel anger. But allow yourself to forgive too. You are not betraying anyone if you let it go. Not me, not you, not God."

I could see the river beside us flowing as he spoke. With each word I could feel and see the hurt, pain and anger flowing out on to the branches and leaves washing by. It drained from me minute after minute. Some of the deepest hurts - Sam telling me it was my fault Dean was in Hell; Dean not telling me about Ruby's true identity; my belief that it was my fault I'd been possessed by a demon and killed my father - flowed out of me with deep, heart wrenching sobs and into the water.

A lightness started to fill me. One I hadn't felt since before my Dad had died.

"You're human,," Dad said, kissing the top of my head. "Be human. You're here to love, nothing more."

* * *

 _ **Lawrence, Kansas**_

 **Dean's POV**

Mom was looking at Sam like he was stark raving mad. After a moment of contemplating, she laughed.

"What?" She asked asked. "There's no such thing as angels."

"I wish. But they're twice as strong as demons. And bigger dicks," I replied. How did she not know about angels? Beth's mother did, her father did - hell even Dad knew about them later on.

"Why would an angel want to kill us?" Mom asked.

I took a sharp breath and frowned. "It's a long story, and we'll tell you the whole thing, but right now, you've got to trust us, and we got to go. Look at my face and tell me if I'm lying to you."

I fed everything into that look. The desperation I was feeling, the worry about getting her and Dad out of here, the knowledge that these angels weren't playing around. She looked at me for a heartbeat, assessing silently and then nodded.

"Okay. Where do we go?"

I let out a breath of relief. She believed me. Step one. "Out of here. We got to move now, though."

"Okay," she agreed. "But what do I tell John?" John. Dad. Dammit!

"Just tell him…." I looked around the room, trying to come up with a viable story. Dad had gone to take a phone call, shouldn't he be back by now? "John?" I called out. Mom was already moving out into the hallway where he'd gone earlier. I followed, and found her by the phone, looking at a note scrawled on a pad.

I looked over her shoulder and felt my stomach sink.

 _Back in 5, J._

Dammit!

Mom picked up the note and turned to look at me, the same realisation in her eyes. Whatever was going on, wherever he had gone, he was in danger and he didn't even know it. We had to move, and we had to move now.

"Where would he go?" I asked, quietly hoping she would know.

* * *

 _ **Lawrence, Kansas**_

 **Beth's POV**

We'd still made good time even with the stop over.

There was no way to know where we were going or where Dean, Sam and Cas were. For the first time I started to worry about leaving Ezekiel behind in Blue Earth, but it was done. I pushed it to the back of my mind, and let it go. I had more important things to worry about.

It was dark, having almost gone seven at this stage. Dad was driving, a pensive look on his face as he steered us toward the Winchester house.

"How long has it been since you've seen them?" I asked, distracting him from whatever he was thinking.

"Oh, not too long, but… Mary and I didn't exactly part on speaking terms," he said, tossing me a smile. "She's a stubborn one, you know."

I smiled, thinking I had no idea… I'd never known her, but I could imagine if my encounter with her in the past had given me any indication.

"Stop!" Cole said from the back seat, and Dad slowed the car, glancing in the rearview mirror at her. "Look." She was pointing toward a garage we were passing, and parked out the front was the very distinct Impala.

"That's John's work," Dad said. "Bit late for him to be out though…"

"He's there," Cole insisted.

"We should check it out," I said, nodding at Cole who was readying herself in the back seat. She steeled herself, a calm and unreadable expression settling in on her face. I could only imagine what was going through her mind as we prepared to run into John.

Dad pulled the car in beside the Impala and we exited. Even though we'd packed a bag of options, I didn't have much in the way of weapons, because at the end of the day nothing was going to help against an angel. The best was the banishing sigil Ezekiel had taught me, and I just needed blood for that. As such I found myself gripping a small blade in my left hand as we moved into the garage, and my trusted glock in my right for comfort more than anything.

As soon as we were inside we could make out the sounds of a scuffle, and rounded a privacy wall in time to see Anna hit a much younger John, in the face with a tire iron. I winced, and Cole reacted with a rage that was all her. She broke into a run, gun in front of her, pushing past John who was on the ground and shaking his head.

Cole didn't stop until she had pushed her gun into Anna's chest, and then she unloaded the whole clip. Suddenly, Anna vanished and I glanced around. She wasn't gone, that was for sure.

"Where the Hell did she go?" Cole asked, spinning, her eyes coming to rest on John.

"Who the Hell are you?" John asked in reply, looking up at her as he ran a hand over his cheek.

Cole rolled her eyes, stepping past him and going on the hunt. I nodded at Dad, inclining my head to John before going in the opposite direction to Cole.

"John," Dad said, moving quickly to help his friend up.

"Patrick?" John asked, looking in confusion. "What the hell are you doing here? What's going on?"

"It's a long story," he replied.

I was watching them both together when Anna reappeared behind John.

"No!" I yelled, but she was too quick.

Anna thrust a hand out in front of her, connecting with John's chest and sending him flying through the air, over a car, and onto the cold cement ground.

Cole let out a roar and launched herself at Anna. Dad reacted with the reflexes of a hunter, reaching for Anna and locking one of her arms behind her back while Cole raised her gun. Anna acted, her sheer strength sending Dad staggering away by a few steps. Just enough for her to grab Cole's arm and twist it painfully behind her back. Cole moved with it, grunting, but not allowing the momentum to be broken. With a sharp jab upwards with the heel of her hand she punched Anna in the nose.

Sickening sound of breaking bone echoed through the room. If she had been human, it would have killed her, that was a move that John had taught us all. You never forgot.

Instead, Anna released Cole, but then kicked out at her and connecting with her abdomen, winding the blonde. I threw a punch at Anna, ducking and weaving around Cole as we both stepped in to the fight. It moved so quickly. I couldn't plan, there was only instinct.

Cole lashed out with another series of quick punches and kicks, and then the angel got a hold of her, propelling her through the air like she had John earlier.

I ducked a punch aimed at my head, but she followed with a kick. I threw myself back, trying to avoid it, and then someone's arm blocked the limb. I landed on my ass, and looked up to see a blonde woman - Mary - her arms pressing back against the angel.

"Mary?" I muttered, clambering to my feet. "You can't be here!"

Mary frowned in my direction, and the distraction was enough for Anna to land a hit, sending the woman into the wall opposite us. _Damn she hits hard._ Anna stalked after Mary, pulling a long silver angel blade out of her jacket as she did.

"No!" I started to run after her, but then Dean intervened - a flash of brown leather jacket, and muscle, his jaw set in a fury that I hadn't seen in months. I smiled at the sight of him, and glanced around, trying to regroup.

Sam was at the far end of the workshop, and I realised that Anna was in a room with the three people she most wanted to kill. I looked at Dad, pointing to Sam.

"Get him out of here!" I called out, then I spun back to Dean and Mary, who were both fighting Anna. The angel moved in on Mary, a look of concentration and determination on her face as she lifted her angel blade and swung it at the blonde. Dean swung his arm and blocked her, disarming the blade from her hand and sending it spinning across the floor.

John struggled to his feet beside me, shaking his head, I reached down and helped him to his feet, a look of confusion on his face.

"What is going on? Who is she?"

Anna had her hand around Dean's throat, and as we watched, she lifted him and tossed him like a ragdoll through a window, sending him out into the night.

"Dean!" I glanced between the hole in the wall, to Mary and then John, torn.

"Mary?" John was staring at the blonde who was circling the angel, face to face, the angel blade in her hand as she took a defensive stance. Mary swung the blade several times, the third time she hit Anna's arm and the angel hesitated for a moment as blood appeared. Another stab and Mary was hitting thin air as Anna dematerialised, and then reappeared behind her target. Mary saw her, swung, and Anna blocked her arm.

"You need to get out of here," I said to John, out of the corner of my eye I saw Cole on the ground. "Get _her_ out of here!" I pointed to Cole. "We'll get Mary."

I didn't wait for a reply as I started toward the fight.

"I'm sorry," Anna said. She picked Mary up, throwing her several feet into the windscreen of a nearby car. Mary struggled over the top of the car, crawling away from the approaching angel.

I ran at Anna from the side, tackling her as Mary escaped off the car and staggered to her feet. Anna scowled, rolling to her feet and squared off against me.

"I'm not here for you Beth."

"Yes, you are," I replied. "Stay away from my family." I swung out at her, landing a few punches to her face, but it was like hitting a brick wall. I knew it wouldn't do. _Where was that angel blade?_

I ducked under a punch, and glanced around, scooting behind the redhead and landing a blow to her kidney. I couldn't see the blade. As I kicked into the back of her knee, she landed hard on the ground, her back stiff as she faced Mary.

Mary had grabbed a crowbar off the bench nearby and she swung it, hitting the angel in the chest.

It wasn't enough.

The blade was missing. We were going to lose this battle.

I pulled a knife out of my pocket - I had to end this now before anyone got hurt. I sliced across my hand, flinching at the sharpness of the cut.

Without anyone attacking her, Anna got to her feet as Mary looked on in horror at how the crowbar jutted out of the chest of the woman in front of her, nothing seeming to stop her.

"Sorry," Anna said, slowly pulling the bar out of her chest, and dropping it to the ground. "It's not that easy to kill an angel."

I felt the blood dripping from my hand as I scrawled the angel sigil on the wall beside me.

"No," I said in reply. "But you can distract them." Anna looked over at me long enough to see my hand slap into the blood drawn markings, and then a white light streaked through the building, taking her with it.

We were safe for the moment, but it wouldn't last.

I looked around the garage, there was a dead man on the floor - his eyes burned out, and cars were wrecked from the fighting. This wasn't good, any way you looked at it. I put my knife back into my jacket and looked at Mary.

"Go find the others," I ordered. She hesitated a moment then ignored me, following instead as I started to move in the other direction. When she saw me reach the broken out window it must have occurred to her where I was going because her steps faltered just slightly.

I got faster the closer I got to the window, silent prayers running through my mind. _Please let him be okay. Please be okay._ Dean was still on the ground when I kicked out the remaining glass shards and hopped through the frame, falling softly to my feet beside him.

"Hey, Dean," I said, turning his face to mine as I leaned over him. "Dean, Dean?"

I felt for a pulse at his throat, finding it and breathing a sigh of relief. Gripping his shoulders I shook him a little more forcefully. "Dean, wake up!"

Dean responded, groaning and opening one eye at me as I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Beth!" He reached up and grabbed me tight, pulling me down on top of him as his hands buried into my hair. They felt so good, sure of where they were going, and I sank into his chest as he guided my head into the crook of his neck. "You're okay, oh, you're okay. I was so worried, I thought I'd lost you again…" he murmured into my hair, and the tightness of his arms told me the severity of his concern.

"It's okay, I'm here," I reassured.

"Anna?" He suddenly looked about, body going tense.

"Gone, for now," I said. He relaxed at that, and rolled us over so that he was leaning over me, my back pressed to the cement beneath us.

There was a desperation in his eyes, love, worry, and something more…

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head. He leaned down, taking the breath out of me as his lips found mine and pressed urgently against me. A low moan escaped my mouth and I felt the telltale shift of his mouth when he smiled. My heart was racing, and if we'd been anywhere else there was nothing that would have stopped that kiss from going further.

"I love that," he said, pulling back enough to look into my eyes.

Behind us, still in the building, Mary cleared her throat and Dean tensed, glancing over his shoulder and seeing her looking at us.

"Oh," he said, "Mo...Mary, hey, we uh..." It was a different side to Dean, seeing him get flustered by his mother catching him making out with a girl. "You remember my wife… Beth?" I grinned up at him as he said it, a secret thrill still running through me whenever he called me his wife. I was like a kid in a candy store, I couldn't get enough.

"We should go," Mary said, and then she was gone.

Dean turned back to me with a chuckle. "Busted."

I laughed, pushing him off me so I could sit up. "Come on," I said, looking into his dark and stormy eyes. "She's right, we should check on the others."

"Not yet," he said, shaking his head and pulling me close again. "That was close."

"It was," I agreed. "And that was only Anna. She's in better shape than Ezekiel."

"Where is Zeke anyway?" Dean asked.

"Recovering, in Blue Earth," I said.

"Blue Earth?!" Dean's expression was full of confusion as he looked at me.

"Long story," I replied.

"It always is."

* * *

 _ **Dean's POV**_

As we rounded the corner of the garage, I glanced around at our surroundings. Standing by a very nice looking Plymouth was Beth's dad, talking in hushed tones to Dad and Mom, looking urgently back at the building. It was just one more thing to take in my stride…. Sure, we were back over a decade into the past, and with my parents. Why not add Beth's dad into the mix?

"We need to move," Patrick said, looking over at us and locking eyes with Beth. "Follow me, we have a safe house we can go." He exchanged a look with Mom, who nodded imperceptibly.

Dad seemed to be the one struggling the most, and that was understandable. The rest of us were hunters, we knew what lived in the dark, so angels were not that much more of a leap in belief.

Patrick spoke to Sam, who nodded and climbed into the Plymouth with him. Cole was already in the back of the Impala, out cold. Dad had carried her out of the building and put her there. I looked at Beth who was staring at her father, and I sighed.

"You should go with him," I said, nodding at the Plymouth, even though I didn't like the suggestion.

"No, I want to come with you," she said, shaking her head. Her hand tensed on my forearm, and she stepped in closer to me. I slid my arm around her waist and gave a reassuring squeeze.

"We'll be right behind you, I swear," I said, kissing her forehead. "I'll go with Mom and Dad, and make sure Cole is okay."

She looked like she was going to argue, but then Patrick stuck his head out the window. "Let's get a move on," he said, starting the car. She kissed me one more time and then jogged over to climb in to the back seat.

I did the same, noting how strange it felt to be in the rear of the Impala while Mom and Dad took the front. Glancing over at Cole, I noticed she'd hit her head pretty hard whenever she'd gone down, there was blood dripping down her temples. She was breathing though, no doubt she was going to wake up with a splitting headache. I just hoped she didn't have a concussion.

Dad eased the car in behind Patrick's and we started on the long stretch ahead of us, the Plymouth leading the way into the cold, dark night.

* * *

 _ **On the Road  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

"Wow," Sam was saying as I finished relaying the story of what had happened to Ezekiel. "This is… wow."

"That's one way to put it, son," Patrick said with a grin into the mirror. He was so light hearted and easy going, my Dad. I saw in him the same personality that had been there until I was a teenager. Even after mom had died, it hadn't broken him. He'd been different to John, although when I looked back on the stories Jefferson had told me since then, I knew why.

Mom hadn't been dead. Not like Mary. She'd been possessed. That must have made all the difference to Dad, because instead of going down the route of revenge like John had when Mary was killed - Dad had gone hunting for demons. He'd known what he was after, John hadn't.

"Cas is wiped. We left him in a motel sleeping, and hopefully recovering," Sam said.

"Why isn't Anna this bad?" I asked.

"Must be because she has Heaven's backing," Sam said.

"And why don't Castiel and Ezekiel?" Patrick asked.

"They sided with humans,' I said, leaning forward on the back of the seat in front of me. "They're helping us. And I think it has something to do with how they were resurrected? Perhaps?"

"I don't know," Sam said, shaking his head. "But whatever it is, they do not have the strength that Anna does right now."

"We need to regroup, and fast. Come up with a plan," Dad said. "Because she will not be alone next time she catches up with us."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Because that's how they work," he said, a frown settling across his face. "Angels rarely work alone. She will get back-up."

I found myself wishing that Dad had taught me all that he knew about Angels before he'd died. I could have been a different person. But he hadn't. And he wouldn't. He was determined not to mess up the timeline, and every time I tried to tell him more of what was to come he shook his head at me, telling me no.

"How do you know so much about them?" I asked.

Dad smiled, looking in the rearview mirror at me. "I married one."

"Wait… mom?"

"Is not an angel, no. You know that. She's a…." his voice trailed off.

"A vessel," I nodded. "I know. Me too."

"Her whole family is," he said with a slight frown.

"I've done what I could to keep her out of this fight, Beth," he said unexpectedly. "After what happened to Samuel and Deanna… and Grace talking about Castiel coming to her in the body of her brother? Not to mention demons, a fight we haven't even seen the start of yet…."

He paused, then shook his head. "I took us away, when Mary told me she was out. I've tried to keep us _all_ safe. I'm not so foolish as Mary to think I can take us out of the fight altogether. So I went to Jim, to learn more about what I did not understand. I had hoped that by doing that, I would give Mary the freedom to live in her bubble - and maybe Grace could have a new life too. I have tried to protect her, keep her safe."

I nodded, looking at him.

"But now?" Sam asked.

Dad sighed as he looked over at the latter.

"But now I'm seeing that it's not that easy. Even when you're out, you're never really free."

"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "No, there has to be a way."

"What are you talking about Sam?" I asked.

"You, Dean… you shouldn't have to do this, not for me," he said. His face was conflicted, and he turned to look at me as he spoke, the grief and regret in clear in his voice.

Dad glanced back at me, curious.

"We quit," I explained, looking at Sam, then Dad. "We moved to Blue Earth and we quit."

"Ah."

"If it weren't for me…" The heaviness in Sam's voice was almost unbearable. I could feel the wisdom of my father's words echoing in my mind as I thought about how hard Sam was on himself, only to have Dean and I driving that home.

"No Sam," I shook my head. "Don't go there." Maybe John and Dad had a point about hunting - it was the Hotel California - check out any time you like, but you can't ever leave. There was no going back to normal like Sam had wanted. Even when you thought you had created a normal life, something happened and you were pulled back in. We were hunters - it's what we did. Could we escape that? Did we really want to?

"You can't change your fate," Dad intervened. "Even if you could, how much of the world would be affected just by the death of one person prematurely?"

"That's why we're here, to stop Anna from doing just that," I said.

"We still have to try and fix things," Sam said. "I mean… if we can."

"We are here to preserve the timeline," Dad cut him off. "Ezekiel is right. We can't change anything. Only ensure that no harm comes to John and Mary. You, and Dean, you must be born. From what Beth has told me, the world depends on it."

* * *

 _ **Impala  
**_

 **Dean's POV**

I wondered how much better, if at all, the conversations Beth was having with _her_ father, compared to the ones I was having with my parents right now. It was strange, having lived pretty much my whole life taking orders from this man - having been drilled and trained to take on monsters since I was a child - to see him struggling with the concept in this moment.

Outside the night was dark, cold and rainy. I stared out the window with no real concept of where we were going, other than it was North. Patrick had mentioned a safe house that was in their family - that was in mom's family. I assumed it had belonged to her father, my grandfather, and had sat empty since his death. On one side, we had no idea if it was safe, on the other at least we knew it was stocked and ready for a hunt.

Beside me Cole stirred at the sound of Dad and Mom speaking, her eyes opened to catch mine, and she groaned aloud. "Oh God, my head is killing me," she complained, raising a hand up to tentatively touch the side of her skull where there was blood dried and mixed up in her hair.

"Yeah, you hit it pretty hard," I said. Cole looked around the car, taking in the couple in the front, the missing siblings, and sitting up quickly at this revelation.

"Where are Sam and Beth?" Quickly grabbing at her head and groaning at how quickly she had moved.

"With Patrick," I said. She took in a breath, assessing.

"What'd I miss?"

"You took on Anna unarmed and lived to tell the tale," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and smirking at her. It would be killing her to know she got knocked out in the middle of the fight. Dad would have _never_ let us live that down. Cole threw me a look that told me she was thinking the exact same thing, especially when her eyes cut to Dad in the driver seat.

"That was pretty badass, Cole," I added, trying not to give her a complete complex over it. If anyone knew how hard Dad rode our asses it was me.

"Where is she now?" Cole asked. "Did you get her?"

"No," I replied, looking out the window again, we were passing a truck stop and the lights from the vehicles were sending sparkles through the rain in a washed-out picture. "She'll be back."

"Dammit," Cole muttered. "They're harder to kill than bloody chupacabras."

I chuckled, intrigued that Cole's mind had gone to the monster that we'd been hunting on the last time we'd all been together. She'd panicked when she thought Dad was in danger, and it nearly got Sam killed.

"Yeah…" I said quietly, reflecting on how I'd lost so much of my family that day. "Who would have thought angels were just another form of monster?"

"I can't believe angels are … well… real," Dad said from the front. "And Monsters? Monsters are _real?"_

"Yes," Mom replied with a short nod. "I'm sorry, I don't know how else…"

"And you fight them?" Dad asked, looking at her, and then back in the rearview mirror at Cole and I. "All of you?"

"Yeah," I murmured, glancing sideways at Cole who stayed silent.

"How long?" Dad asked. He had looked over at Mom when he said that. It made sense, it was clearly becoming evident that she'd been lying to him for a long time, and he had to be putting it all together now. Mom looked a little pained, her face conflicted as she replied.

"All my life."

Dad gave a little disbelieving shake of his head. He was mad, even seeing him so young I could read that from him in the set of his shoulders, the clenching of his jaw, the little hiss of frustration as he bit back something he was desperately wanting to say.

Cole was staring at him, as if seeing him for the first time in a long while. I supposed that it was. It was curious to me that he seemed to calm down when he looked at her in the mirror. It made sense however, she was a stranger. She hadn't been lying to him her whole life like Mom had. I couldn't even imagine what that would feel like.

"And you guys?" Dad asked, looking back at Cole and I again. "All your lives?"

I grimaced, looking over at Mom and then Cole.

"Pretty much, yeah," Cole answered. "Our…well both our mothers were killed by monsters, our Dads raised us to hunt them after that."

"That's crazy." Dad shook his head in disbelief. "And I can't believe you never told me," he added to Mom.

I tried to place myself in his shoes, to feel how I'd feel if Beth were the one coming to me with this huge secret. But I couldn't do it. Beth didn't hide things from me, it had been me who had hidden secrets from her.

"John," Mom continued. "Just try to under…"

"She didn't exactly have a choi…" I was speaking at the same time as Mom, but it was Dad who cut us both off.

"Shut up all! Both of you!" He said sharply. "Not another word or so help me I will turn this car around." It was so unexpected, I almost laughed. This wasn't the first time Dad had used that line on me or Sam, but I hadn't heard it in a good decade. Coming from him now, of all times, was beyond weird.

"Wow," I muttered, "awkward family road trip," I said under my breath. Beside me Cole chuckled, raising her eyebrow.

"No kidding," she replied, and then she fell silent when Dad glared at the pair of us in the rearview mirror.

* * *

 _ **Campbell Safe House**_

 **Beth's POV**

The house a very unassuming farmhouse, out of the way, no neighbours. In fact, it looked like no one had been here in years. Dad pulled the Plymouth up to the front steps, and sighed, shutting off the engine.

"Here we are," he said, staring at it like he was seeing a ghost.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, leaning forward to stare at the house.

"Yeah," Dad nodded, shaking himself out of whatever thoughts he'd been having. "Just… well it's been a long time. This is… well this is where I first encountered Rhuddhem." He climbed out of the car and I quickly glanced at Sam.

 _Ruby,_ I thought, meeting Sam's eyes with a meaningful look before we hurried to follow Dad. .

"Oh," Sam said, stepping up to where Dad was now looking up at the door. "I thought this was Mom's family home."

"It is now," Dad said. "But it used to belong to my Uncle. He uh… well, my cousin Amanda was possessed by Rhuddhem, she was forced by the demon to kill my Uncle… the demon would have killed her too, but I got there in time to exorcise it."

Sam looked at me with a pained expression and I nodded gravely, trying to keep a straight face.

Dad sucked in a breath and then let it out slowly. "I arrived in time to save Amanda, but I… I couldn't kill the demon, only send her back to Hell."

"Well, you did your best," Sam said.

"I can only hope that's where she stays, she has been hunting my family down for centuries." Dad said.

"Uh…"

"What happened to her?" I asked, cutting Sam's next comment off before it started.

Another expression of loss and pain passed over my father's face and he sighed, looking up as the headlights of the Impala came into view.

"She joined a convent in Ilchester," he said. "And was murdered three years later by a priest who lost his mind."

I went pale, thinking back to the stories that I was told of the bloody massacre that had been a sacrifice to Lucifer at the very location where Sam raised him from his cage. It seemed almost impossible for my father's cousin to have wound up there. To have escaped a horrid death, only to die in a similar if not worse manner.

"Beth…" Sam's voice brought me back to the present and I snapped my head up to look at him, seeing his concern.

"That's…" I looked at my dad. "That's horrible."

"Sometimes we can't escape our destiny," he said quietly.

"Do you think our destiny is to die?" I asked.

"No," he said with a smile. "Sometimes our fate is to live, when all others would count us for dead." He looked over at the Impala as it came to a stop. Dean clamored out of the car, looking at me with a wide-eyed and slightly crazy look. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw me, moving to envelope me in a hug.

"Good," he said. "I uh… let's not do that again, okay?"

"The drive in separate cars, or the fighting Anna thing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Both."

"Well you're welcome to ride with us Dean," Dad said with a bright smile. "But the angel will be back. They always are."

"Peachy," Dean muttered, glancing sideways as Mary stalked past us and up the stairs. She tapped her foot on a board near the side of the porch railing and it flipped up, revealing a hidden compartment from which she fished a key.

With a nod, Dad shook John's hand when he walked up, looking a little lost for words.

"How you holding up, John?"

"Uh, fine. Fine. You're… so you're hunter too Patrick?" He looked like he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the concept of what we'd just been through. "You and Mary?"

"I am," Dad said with a nod, letting out a sigh. "But Mary...she…"

"I don't want to get into it," John cut him off. "My wife, and my best friend, lying to me for years! Does Grace know?"

Dad's face fell, and he sighed, running a hand over his eyes and down his face. "Yeah, John. She's an angel vessel."

"A… a vessel?" John spluttered. "What the _Hell_ is an angel vessel?"

"Let's get inside," Mary said, frowning at Dad. "Clearly there's some things we're both not aware of."

For the first time I realised that angels were a new subject to Mary. I gazed at Dad, his conversation about how he'd gone to learn from Pastor Jim after Mary quit hunting. This must have been where he learned about angels, not from Samuel.

In all of this I realised we were missing someone. "Hey, where's Cole?" I asked.

"Sleeping beauty is in the car, she got a pretty bad knock to the head," Dean said, moving back to the Impala and opening his car door again, grabbing our duffel bag.

"I'll get her," John said, "you guys go with Mary." Dean nodded, looking almost relieved to be getting away from John.

We all followed Mary inside, Dean and I first, followed by Sam, and then Dad. Mary flipped a light switch and the power came on, surprisingly. I found myself staring at a house that had seen better days, the paint peeling from the walls, a layer of dust over everything, it had a musty smell that gave away just how long it had been shut up without an airing.

"Place has been in the family for years," Mary said, leaning down and flipping up a round rug under a coffee table in the living room. The floors were basic polished cement, and under the rug were familiar red painted symbols.

"Devil's trap," Mary said, leaving the rug flipped over before standing and moving further into the house, flipping switches as she went. "Pure iron fixtures, of course. Um, there should be salt and holy water in the pantry, knives, guns."

"All of that will only work to piss an angel off," Dad said, moving to lean against the wall.

"So, what will kill it? Or slow it down, at least?" Mary asked, looking at us all.

"Not much," Sam said with a shrug, his eyes the perfect puppy dog apologetic.

Mary let out a dry laugh. "Uh, great…"

Dean looked at Sam, and then chuckled. "He said not much, not nothing. We packed." He held up a duffel bag as he walked past Mary into the kitchen. There was a large rectangular dining table and chairs in the middle of the room, and Dean unceremoniously dumped the bag there, unzipping it and rummaging through the contents.

"If we put this up and she comes close…" he held up a piece of paper with the angel-banishing sigil on it, "...we beam her right off the starship."

"Hm," Mary said.

Sam picked up one of the old ceramic jugs Cas had given us, holding it out for Mary to see. "This is holy oil. It's kind of like a, like a devil's trap for angels. Come on. I'll show you how it works." Mary and Sam moved out of the kitchen, leaving me alone, all of a sudden - with the two most important men in my life. I flashed Dean a smile, one that told him I was happy that Dean was getting to meet my Dad, even if it was a little premature and I hadn't been born yet. I'd always thought Dad would like Dean, and it seemed that he did… at least with how he was nodding at Dean's banter.

"I can get started on the sigils," Dad said, taking the paper out of Dean's hand. "This is good," he said. "Very good. Where did you get it?"

"Uh, an angel," I said, shrugging. "Ezekiel."

Dad chuckled and nodded, looking up at John as he came back into the room.

"Hi John," Dad said, falling quietly. "How is the girl?"

"Fine, for now," John said. He looked a little uncomfortably about and then his eyes fell to the paper in Dad's hand.

"Hey, what's the deal with the thing on the paper?"

"It's a sigil," Dean answered. "That means…"

"I don't care what it means. Where does it go?" John snapped.

Dean hesitated, looking from me to my Dad.

"It goes on a wall or a door," Dad said after a moment.

"How big should I make it?" John said.

"John…" Dad's voice was extremely concerned and I knew exactly why.

"What?" John snapped at his friend. "Y'all might have treated me like a fool, but I am not useless. I can draw a damn…" he reached out and snatched the paper from Dad's hands, "...whatever it is… a sigil."

"Why don't you go help Sam out?" Dean said. "Okay? 'Cause this has got to be done in...it's got to be done in human blood."

John didn't even miss a beat. He reached out to a knife that was on the pile of things in the duffel bag, unsheathed it, and then sliced it clear across his left palm, a pool of blood starting to well at the wound.

"So, how big?" John said stubbornly. Dad took a step away, nodding in approval.

"I'll show you," Dean said, smiling and chuckling to himself.

"What?" John asked, looking at him stubbornly.

"All of a sudden, you...you really remind me of my dad," Dean said, and he led the way back into the living room, leaving me alone with my own father, as soon as John followed.

"Hard to imagine John as the bitter, drill sergeant you told me about," Dad murmured, looking at his friend leave.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I know what you mean."

* * *

 _ **Later On**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd all taken different parts of the house. Patrick and I were working in the back rooms, and I had a sneaky suspicion that he'd worked it that way deliberately. I felt like I was at a job interview - my first ever - or worse… my first hunt? My heart was thundering, and I was choking on my words.

 _I was nervous._

When I dropped my knife for the second time, Patrick chuckled and sat back on his heels from where he'd been pouring a circle of holy oil.

"Dean, relax, I'm not going to shoot you," he said with a grin.

Pausing, I took a deep breath and glanced over at him. This was the Patrick that Beth always described to me. The one she remember as a child, before her Mum had died.

"Yeah, yeah sure," I nodded at him. "It's just…"

"You've absconded with my little girl without so much as a 'may I'?" He interjected and I almost choked at the question, it was so out of left field.

"Well… when you put it like that…" I looked down at my feet, trying to come up with a good answer.

Patrick laughed heartily and grasped my shoulder, urging me to look at him. When I did his bright eyes burned into mine. I couldn't look away.

"Do you love my daughter?"

"With all I am," I said. "She's everything."

Patrick smiled and nodded, breaking eye contact. "I feel the same way about her mother."

He fell silent for a moment and then frowned at the holy oil in his hands.

"She deserves better than a life like this," he said after a moment. I wasn't really sure if he was talking about Beth or Grace. "I don't have the… I don't have the courage to step away from hunting. It's all I've known since I was a young boy."

I nodded, fully understanding where he was coming from.

"Yeah I get it."

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't try," Patrick continued. "I hadn't really thought about children until Beth showed up all those months ago, and Grace told me who she was."

My heart ached a little at the thought of the child Beth had lost years back. It seemed a lifetime ago, and we'd been talking, dancing, around the idea of another child. Especially with this Gabriel _prophecy_ hanging over our heads. It was one prophecy I wasn't opposed to, not that I had been given much of a chance to raise it with Beth.

"We had a child," I said finally. Patrick looked surprised. I smiled, thinking back to the few months before Sam had been possessed by Meg, before it had all come tumbling down. The idea of having that little piece of us both, and bringing it into the world… a son… and I ached for the loss. I knew Beth did too, though she didn't talk about it, neither of us did. Maybe I needed to stop being so silent on the matter.

"A little boy. We uh… well, it's just that… I don't know how…"

"You lost the baby?" He asked.

"A demon attacked Beth," I said, running a hand over my face. "I wasn't close enough…" I fell silent, reliving those moments when Sam had kicked her in the stomach.

"It's not your fault Dean," Patrick said.

"I should have been faster… I failed!"

"Dean, a lot of things happen that we don't plan. Things we'd take back if we could, things we wouldn't. But, it's what led us to here. It's what makes us who we are."

I looked down at my hands, at the cut on my left palm, and sighed.

"We named him Patrick…" I said softly, and Patrick's smile was one of whimsical sadness. "Beth'll never get over it."

"She will," he said. "She's strong, like her mother. And she has you."

* * *

 **Beth's POV**

I finished up drawing the sigil on the kitchen wall and walked into the living room. The room was small and sat off the dining room, separated by raw wood beams and an arch, no doors. Mary looked up from where she was pouring holy oil on the floor as I stepped closer and hesitated on the threshold, thinking I probably should be avoiding her right now. Ten seconds later my instincts were confirmed as she asked the question I didn't really want to have to answer.

"Hey," she said. "You all said you'd explain everything when we had a minute. We have a minute. Why does an angel want me dead?"

I sighed and opened my mouth to answer her, hearing the answer come from behind me instead.

"'Cause they're dicks," Dean said, walking in from the hallway where he'd heard the question, I chuckled, shaking my head as he leaned casually against the archway. Mary found the answer amusing too and laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"Not good enough," she said, shaking her head. "Look, my best friend - Patrick's wife - she's always believed in them, says they speak to her, but why does that make me a target? Aren't they supposed to help us? Protect us?"

"It's complicated," Dean said as I stepped up beside him.

"Fine," Mary said as she stood up to face us. "All ears."

"You just gonna have to trust us, okay?" Dean said in his infuriatingly cryptic way.

"I've been trusting you all day," Mary said sternly.

Dean's posture changed as he went from leaning against the wall to standing, and I could see he was battling with telling her.

"All right, then," Mary said, raising her hands in the air and scoffing. "I'm walking out the door." She turned and Dean's eyes flashed with momentary panic.

"I'm your son," he said quietly and she froze for a moment before turning back around with incredulous eyes.

"What?"

Dean took a few steps toward her and my heart went out to him, he was about to lay it all on the line, to his own mother. At least I hadn't needed to do that, Mom had already known the first time we came back in time and I ran into her.

"I'm your son," he said again, stopping in front of her and staring down into her confused eyes. "Sorry. I don't know how else to say it." He glanced back at me and I managed an encouraging smile for him before he turned back to Mary. "We're from the year two thousand and ten. An angel zapped us back here..." he stopped and then clarified. "Not the one that attacked you, friendlier."

Mary looked incredulously from Dean and then to me. "You... can't expect me to believe that," she said with a frown.

Dean took a deep breath and I walked over to him, placing my hand at the small of his back in a show of support.

"Our name's Winchester; Dean Winchester, and Sam is my brother," Dean said. "We're named after your parents" Mary looked at him like he was crazy, and that was when Dean started to lay his memories on the line.

"When I would get sick, you would make me tomato-rice soup, because that's what your mom made you. And instead of a lullaby, you would sing _Hey Jude_ because that's your favourite Beatles song."

Mary's face broke, tears starting to run down her cheeks as she shook her head.

"I...I don't believe it. No," she said.

"I'm sorry," Dean said, "but it's true."

"I raised my kids to be hunters?" Mary asked and Dean looked pained, shaking his head.

"No. No, you didn't," he said quickly.

"How could I do that to you?" Mary asked.

"You didn't do it," I said softly as Dean shook his head, his voice catching with emotion. "You didn't do it because you're dead, Mary."

Mary's eyes widened and she looked at me. "What? What happened?" She asked.

"Yellow-eyed demon. He killed you, and..." Dean stopped, shaking his head. I glanced behind us to make sure that John wasn't anywhere near us, but we hadn't seen him for a while since he'd gone upstairs to put sigils in the room where Cole was.

"John became a hunter to get revenge," I said, looking at Mary. "He raised us in this life."

"But... you're Dean's wife?" Mary said and I nodded. "How did John...?"

"He took me in, after a demon killed my father... Patrick," I said, giving her a moment to make the connection. I didn't think her eyes could have opened further but they did as she looked at me, taking in my features, more like my mother's, but my father shared the same eye colour and shape of our nose. My hair colour and high cheekbones, I got from my mom and I could see Mary putting it together.

"You're Grace's daughter?" She asked. I nodded.

"Where is Patrick? Does he know this?"

"He's finishing up in the back," Dean replied. "He knows about Beth."

"But if he dies…. What… what about Grace?"

"She's dead too," I said softly and she shook her head.

"No... no I can't believe that," she said, shaking her head.

"Well believe it," Dean said shortly. "Grace died in a car crash when Beth was eight years old, and Patrick raised her, until a demon killed him, and then we took Beth in..." It wasn't quite the full story, but it was enough for now.

"But you were already a hunter? Patrick would have…" Mary stopped as she saw me shake my head.

"I didn't know about any of this. Dad protected me from it."

"Wait, you took an innocent girl and turned her into a hunter?" Mary asked incredulously.

"It was the best thing they could have ever done for me," I said softly, looking at Dean and he smiled. Mary was still shaking her head. Dean turned back to Mary, his eyes sad.

"And beside the point," Dean said. "Listen to me," he ordered Mary, looking at her. "The demon - that kills you - comes into Sam's nursery exactly six months after he's born. November 2nd, 1983. Remember that date, and whatever you do, do not go in there. You wake up that morning and you take Sam and you run," he said and I nodded, yes, she had to run, we had to protect Sam.

"That's not good enough, Dean," Sam's voice said from the opposite wall where he was standing in another open doorway, listening to the conversation. We looked over at him and he sighed.

"Wherever she goes, the demon's gonna find her. Find me," he said.

"Well, then what?" Dean asked, short on options. I looked at him, the way he was holding his shoulders. He was frustrated, wanting desperately to change what was going to happen in the future.

Sam shrugged, leaning heavily against the doorway.

"She can leave Dad. That's what," he said softly, looking sadly at Mary. "You got to leave John."

"What?" Mary asked, shocked. I stared at him, my mouth almost hanging open at the suggestion. _Was he serious?_ Did he even realise the impact such a decision might have on the timeline? On us?!

"When this is all over, walk away, and never look back," Sam said.

"So we're never born..." Dean mused, tossing me a look that I couldn't read.

"Now wait just a minute here," I said, feeling panic start to rise in my throat.

"I – I can't," Mary said, shaking her head. "You're saying that you're my children, and now you're saying..."

"You may have no other choice," Dean said.

"There's a big difference between dying and never being born. And trust me, we're okay with it, I promise you that." Sam added. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, starting to shake my head.

"Well I'm not," I said. "Dean!" He looked at me, sadness in his eyes as he realised what Sam was saying. I pulled him away slightly and leaned in to him, dropping my voice. "Dean you promised me you wouldn't leave me again."

Sucking in a breath he reached out to cup my cheek in his hand and Mary spoke, shaking her head.

"I'm not okay with that," she said.

"Listen, you think you can have that normal life that you want so bad, but you can't," Sam said to her. "I'm sorry. It's all gonna go rotten. You are gonna die, and your children will be cursed."

"There – there has to be a way," she argued.

"No, this is the way. Leave John," Sam said.

"No!" I said, shaking my head. "No, guys, you can't be for real, you can't... you can't just never be born. Dean... you can't just leave me like that."

"Beth, you wouldn't even know we existed," Sam cut in. "It would be like a clean slate, you'd be able to live a normal life." I frowned, shaking my head.

"No, no you're wrong. Because Ruby will come regardless for Dad. And if you guys aren't there... if... if John never becomes a hunter...who will save me?" I asked, cringing as I heard the slightly higher pitch entering my voice. _I will not break down,_ I told myself, closing my eyes. _Pull yourself together Beth._ Dean hesitated, his eyes darkening.

"We can't know that for sure Beth," Sam said. I stared into his eyes, seeing nothing but heartache there. The pain of all he'd been through - never knowing his mother, being estranged from John, losing us all just so he could get a normal life, and then losing that too.

"I can't," Mary said, and I selfishly agreed wholeheartedly.

"She's right, there's got to be… Sammy, I know you're hurting. I know you think this is a better way, but… trust me it's not the answer."

"I can't see any other way out, Beth," Sam said. "I've tried, believe me. But all we do is give and give, and for what?"

I turned my face to Dean, who was pale in the face and clearly wavering between his desire to protect me, and his need save his mother.

"Please Dean, are you going to make me beg?" I whispered, shaking my head at him. He was frustratingly silent, his eyes flicking between Sam and myself. "Please you promised me."

"You'll never even miss him," Sam pushed.

"Miss him? Would you say that about the love of your life? What do you think this is? Some kind of a fling?" I turned back to Dean.

"Dean, I'd miss you even if we never met. There has to be another way. We can have a normal life, _together,_ we can. We haven't even tried that hard." I said watching his eyes, seeing him hesitate.

"Sam…" he said, turning to his brother.

"This is bigger than us Dean," Sam said. "There are so many more lives at stake..."

"I don't care!" I yelled and everyone stopped to look at me. I lowered my voice to a slightly more reasonably volume and sighed. "I don't care... you do this, then you better go kill my father right now because I won't make it without you guys. I won't..." My voice broke, hoarse from emotion.

"You might as well hand me over to the demons now… they'll have a direct line to Heaven, two of us because of Mom, and _everyone_ will lose then."

"What?" Mary asked? Looking sharply at us all.

Sam took a step into the room, throwing a warning glance at me.

"Do you know what my mother went through, Sam? Have you spoken to Jefferson? Because if you had any idea, you'd see this isn't a solution at all. Don't forget that it was John and Jefferson who saved my mom. Without them, she'd still be a meatsuit for that demon. So, you want to mess with the timeline? Go right ahead, but you're not saving anyone… you might just destroy the whole world earlier - because there's a lot of good that John has done, that _Jefferson_ has done and if we don't exist, he will never become a hunter either - there is a butterfly effect here none of us can see. It's exactly what Ezekiel warned us about."

"She's right… Sammy," Dean said. I felt my heart stop at the words. _He isn't going to leave me. He can see it._

"No, Dean. This is the only way," Sam said. "Anna is right."

I sighed, shaking my head and turning away from everyone. I couldn't say it any plainer than that. I started to walk away, seeing my Dad appear in the kitchen, a look of concern no doubt from my raised voice.

"Dad…" I felt the anger melt, and suddenly all that was left was despair. "I can't do this anymore."

"Beth…" Dean had followed me, "hey, let's…"

"It's too late," Mary said suddenly. "I can't leave John. I'm... I'm pregnant," and we all stopped, turning back.

She was pregnant, with Dean, and I knew she'd never get rid of him. My heart heat just a little faster as this sunk in and I found myself thinking about destiny, and what Missouri had said about it so long ago. Seemed like whatever we did, we were always 3 steps too late, this time I was grateful for it, we'd have to find another way to protect John and Mary, to protect Sam.

The room was tense with unspoken words, when suddenly John walked in.

"Hey, we got a problem. Those blood things, the sigils—they're gone."

"Gone as in…?" Sam asked, shaking himself out of the previous conversation.

"I drew one on the back of the door. I turned around. And when I looked back again, it was a smudge." It was like telling us all the locks on a prison had shut down. I had to see it for myself.

I'd just drawn one in the kitchen, I took a few more steps and looked at the wall. Nothing. Where I had drawn the sigil in my own blood, there was only a bloody smear where the protection symbol had been.

"He's right," I said to Dean. In the living room Mary bent over to check the oil circle she had just poured out.

"There's no more holy oil," she announced when she stood up.

And then suddenly there was an ear-splitting screech. All the lightbulbs in the room exploded, and the room was plunged into darkness.

For the first time I heard what Dean had been talking about, the high pitched ringing of an angel speaking. Before, because it was Cas, I had heard a thousand voices all speaking at once, because I was tuning in to that angelic line, but this was a different. I couldn't hear any voices, only the shrill sound as around us windows shattered. Dean grabbed me, pulling me to the ground as glass sprayed into the room, I felt the sharp sting of a couple of cuts as glass sliced into my face.

The ringing stopped, and hesitantly we stood up, Dean glancing at me worriedly before he moved to check on the others. Before we could even get a word out the door to the room burst open from the outside and there was the sound of angel wings as a young dark skinned man entered dressed snappily in a black suit with tie.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded, looking him over.

"I'm Uriel," the young man replied and I felt my stomach sink. _Oh no._ Dean backed away, pushing John and Mary behind him and I saw two more angels coming up behind Uriel, blocking the way out from the direction he'd just entered.

"Oh, come on!" Dean growled.

Sam reached out and grabbed Mary's arm, urging her into the kitchen toward the hallway exit. "Go…"

I turned to see Anna blocking that exit, standing on the final landing of the stairs.

"Damn," I said, feeling Sam press an angel blade into my hand. I locked eyes with him for a split second, seeing the nod as he prepared to get Mary and John out of the room. Dean was watching as we looked to him, tipping his head sideways at us and smirking. And in the back I could see through the opening into the hallway, if I knew Cole, she would be coming down those stairs any minute, and she had another blade with her.

"Here goes nothin'," Dean said, turning back to the angels then running and throwing a punch at Uriel. At the same time I launched myself at Uriel, swinging the blade around to try and hit him in the side. One of the angels with Uriel blocked my arm, twisting it viciously.

"Ahhh!" I cried out, feeling the blade fall out of my hand. It landed on the floor with a clatter. I let my body weight carry me down, catching the angel off guard as I twisted, landing on my back as I hit the floor and he was forced to let go of me. Free, I lashed up with both feet, to land a solid kick to his chest, and then sprung to my feet stabbing the angel through the neck. A ripple of light flashed through him, and he fell to the ground lifeless.

Cole appeared to our left, throwing herself at Anna in an attempt to do the same to the red-haired angel. Anna twisted sideways, evading the attack, turning and landing a high kick which sent Cole crashing back into banister, where it splintered with her weight.

Dad was on his feet, but the other angel had joined the frey, and they were going head-to-head. Out of sight, I could hear signs of a struggle as Dean and Uriel slugged it out. Sam moved on Anna, while John had an angel blade in hand and stabbed the angel with Dad in the back. I made the decision to go after Dean.

As I rounded the wall into the other room, a spray of blood hit me across the face and Dean groaned as Uriel hit him again, then again. I pulled all my anger inside of me and focused it on Dean's assailant.

"Uriel!" I yelled, running at him. When the angel looked up, I tackled him to the ground, landing on top of the angel and throwing a right hook at his jaw. He grunted, but barely moved. My knuckles felt like I'd just punched a brick wall. With a chuckle, Uriel pushed forward with his hands, hitting me square in the chest, and I felt myself lifted through the air until I hit the couch.

Dean swung in again, a roar of anger, and landed a punch to Uriel's ribs. The angel was barely breaking a sweat. We needed those angel blades. I clamored to my feet and looked back to the kitchen in time to see Anna throw John out a window. There was a sickening sound of wood and glass giving way, and John disappeared from sight.

"John!" Mary cried out.

John had dropped the blade, and Sam dove after it, but wasn't fast enough. Anna ripped a pipe out of a hole in the wall, breaking the metal clean off and ramming it into Sam's stomach.

"Sammy!" I screamed, moving for him.

Cole, still not giving up, had climbed to her feet. Seeing Sam fall to the ground, she roared and ran at Anna with a recovered angel blade, but Anna was too fast. Within seconds, Anna had side stepped, then redirected Cole's arm straight into her stomach. I watched in horror as the blade drove into and blood started to flow.

"No!"

Anna turned to Mary. "I'm really sorry," she said.

I couldn't move, I felt the pull of a thousand different strings all attached to a different part of me, and they held strong. Dean, Sam, Dad, John, Cole… the sheer volume of this attack was overwhelming. I was frozen with indecision.

"Beth!" Dad was yelling, but it was as if he was a million miles away.

Everything seemed to slow right down.

Then John's voice, deeper, sounded.

"Anna."

Dad reached me, pulling me into his arms and pushing me toward Mary.

Anna spun around, and standing in the middle of the room was John. Only he walked differently, and there was a determination to his eyes.

"Michael," Anna said, her eyes widening. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, and without warning the angel burst into flames, screaming.

Once done, Michael turned to look at Uriel, who had released Dean and walked into the room.

"Michael. I didn't know," he said. There was a fear in Uriel's eyes, and he valiantly stood his ground even with the knowledge of what had just happened to Anna.

"Goodbye, Uriel," Michael said, snapping his fingers and instantly Uriel disappeared.

Michael turned back to Mary, and she was shaking, tears in her eyes as she looked at him.

"What did you do to John?" She asked.

"John is fine," Michael replied, taking a few steps toward her. Dad moved to put himself between Michael and Mary, frowning.

"John is a vessel?" He asked.

"Who… what are you?" Mary asked.

"Shhhh…." Michael said. He reached out two hands, touching their foreheads, and both Dad and Mary fell to the ground unconscious. I glanced at Dean, seeing him stagger into the room, and went to his side.

Sam was looking deathly still on the ground, and Cole was sitting with her back to a kitchen cabinet, bloody and pale. The silence was deafening, like the calm before a storm hit.

"Well, I'd say this conversation is long overdue, wouldn't you?" Michael asked, turning his intense stare to Dean. It was John, a young John, but his personality was buried deep beneath the pulsing energy of the archangel. We'd never met Michael, he'd been in Heaven, waiting for Dean to let him in. Now he had a new vessel.

Dean sucked in a breath, pointing at Sam and Cole. "Fix them!" He ordered. I cringed, not liking our chances of getting Michael to do anything that we wanted. But if there was one thing I knew, it was that Michael wanted Dean… why else would he be here? And if he needed Dean for a meat suit, then he needed Sam for Lucifer. However this played out, he would have to save Sam.

Michael smiled, shaking his head. "First...we talk. Then I fix your darling little Sammy."

"How'd you get in my dad, anyway?" Dean asked.

"I told him I could save his wife, and he said yes," Michael replied. Dean snorted, and shook his head.

"I guess they oversold me being your one and only vessel."

"You're my true vessel but not my only one," Michael replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dean asked.

"It's a bloodline," Michael said. This piqued my interest, because Castiel had said something similar to Anna.

"A bloodline?" I asked, curious, glancing over at Cole. Michael looked at me, and raised an eyebrow. I tried to banish my thoughts from my mind, about John's other children, looking back at the angel. "How old a bloodline?" I asked, trying to distract him.

"Stretching back to Cain and Abel. It's in your blood, your father's blood, your family's blood," Michael said, this time to Dean. "Same as Beth… the twelve tribes of Israel - from which her mother descends of one - house the lineages of the angels."

That was something I hadn't known. To be fair I'd never really looked into my family genealogy, but now it was starting to interest me even more.

"Awesome," Dean said, his voice and eyes looking on in dejection. I reached out a hand and grasped his forearm, giving it a little squeeze to let him know he wasn't alone. "Six degrees of Heaven Bacon. What do you want with me?" Dean asked.

"You really don't know the answer to that?"

Dean scowled at the angel, slipping an arm around my waist and narrowing his eyes at Michael. "Well, you know I ain't gonna say yes, so why are you here? What do you want with me?!"

"I just want you to understand what you and I have to do." Michael said, stepping closer to us.

"Oh, I get it. You got beef with your brother. Well, get some therapy, pal. Don't take it out on my planet!"

"You're wrong," Michael said. "Lucifer defied our father, and he betrayed me. But still...I don't want this any more than you would want to kill Sam."

He turned away, shoulders slumping slightly. "You know, my brother, I practically raised him. I took care of him in a way most people could never understand, and I still love him." He turned back to us. "But I am going to kill him because it is right and I have to."

"Oh, because God says so?" Dean asked.

"Yes. From the beginning, he knew this was how it was going to end," Michael said. I shook my head at him, it couldn't be true.

"And you're just gonna do whatever God says," Dean pushed.

"Yes, because I am a good son." It was ironic how alike Michael and Dean were in that regard, and that was not lost on Dean, who smirked.

"Okay, well, trust me, pal. Take it from someone who knows—that is a dead-end street."

"And you think you know better than my father? One unimportant _little_ man. What makes you think you get to choose?" Michael asked. The disdain in his voice was clear, he didn't think much of humans.

"Because I got to believe that I can choose what I do with my unimportant _little life_ ," Dean replied with a shaky voice, full of unexpressed emotion. I slipped my arm around Dean's waist and we stood as one against the angel.

"You're wrong. You know how I know?" Michael turned away, moving toward Sam and looking down at him. I felt Dean's gaze shift to me, and for a fleeting moment, he revealed the panic and the pain that he was feeling. I reached squeezed my hand against his hip, pressing the side of me to him, feeding back to him all the strength I could muster.

Michael stopped and looked back at us. "Think of a million random acts of chance that let John and Mary be born, to meet, to fall in love, to have the two of you. Think of how random it appears for you and Beth to have met, more than once in your lifetimes, only to be brought together in the most tragic of circumstances."

I felt my heart race. This is what my Dad had been talking about - this was the destiny he meant. I was starting to believe it too - we _were_ meant to be here. All the pain, all the heartache we'd experienced in our lives, it was for a reason. Maybe those reasons weren't clear, but I had to believe they were good - and that we would prevail. And I knew in my heart that we were _not_ here to play puppets to angels in a war of their creation.

Michael took a step closer and shook his head. "Think of the million random choices that you make, and yet how each and every one of them brings you closer to your destiny. Do you know why that is? Because it's not random. It's not chance. It's a plan that is playing itself out perfectly. Free will's an illusion, Dean. That's why you're going to say yes." He said.

I glanced at Dean, whose face was emotionless at the moment.

"Oh, buck up. It could be worse." Michael smiled. "You know, unlike my brothers, I won't leave you a drooling mess when I'm done wearing you."

"What about John?" I asked, drawing attention from Dean to myself. Michael tilted his head sideways and smiled.

"Better than new. In fact, I'm gonna do your mom and your dad a favour."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Scrub their minds. They won't remember me or you," Michael said.

"You can't do that." Dean said, swallowing hard. I could feel his arm tense under my hand and I was torn between letting this roll just the way it was going, or arguing, like Dean was no doubt about to.

"I'm just giving your mother what she wants. She can go back to her husband, her family… same with you Beth. Your Dad can go home to your mom. We need you where you are, too."

"What? Why?" Dean asked

"Because Beth is going to be the reason you finally says 'yes'," Michael said.

"You son of a bitch! She's gonna kill her own father! And mom is going to walk into that nursery!" Dean said, stepping angrily into the angel.

"Obviously," Michael said as he turned away. "But you always knew that was going to play out one way or another. You can't fight City Hall."

There was nothing to me done. We stood there, helpless to intercede, watching as Michael walked over to Sam and pressed two fingers to his forehead. Sam vanished right before our very eyes, the pipe that had been sticking out of his stomach falling to floor. Michael stood up and turned to us. "He's home. Safe and sound."

"Now her," I said, pointing to Cole.

Michael looked confused for a moment, as if he hadn't thought about healing Cole, but then nodded, moving to kneel in front of the girl who was fading in and out of consciousness. She coughed up blood as he reached a hand out to touch her forehead. Cole reacted to the movement, hitting the hand out of the way and snarling, "fuck off John."

I knew what was going through her mind, she was ready to die. Well, we weren't ready to bury her. "Cole, open your eyes, let him heal you. Think of JJ, he needs you!" I said, moving to stand nearby.

Cole opened her eyes long enough to glare at me, then looked at John's face, nodding. As he reached out, they seemed to have a silent exchange before Michael muttered the words, "you're welcome," and then the girl vanished.

Michael stood and looked at us. I was staring at my Dad now, unconscious on the floor, wishing I'd had more time. I wondered if Dean was feeling the same way.

"Your turn," Michael said, looking at us both. "I'll see you soon, Dean."

Without any further conversation, Michael pressed his fingers to both our foreheads, and I felt my stomach drop, a loud whoosh in my ears like blood was rushing to my head really quickly. Then everything was surrounded in a blinding white light.

* * *

 _ **Motel - Several Days Later**_

 **Dean's POV**

My body, my heart, my thoughts… they were all heavy.

We'd failed.

What was the whole point of it all if it was going to lead us right back to the same place, each and every time?

Cole had taken off almost as soon as we landed back in the present, and she'd been ignoring our calls ever since. It wasn't like me to worry about the woman, she was stubborn and a pain in my ass most of the time, but she knew how to take care of herself. This time? I wasn't so sure what she would be feeling.

Castiel and Ezekiel were still missing in action, and that had me just as concerned.

I pulled out a bottle of scotch from the cupboard and saw Sam reaching for the cups. That's how I knew things were hitting him just as hard - wasn't like my little brother to turn to the drink … well, not when I was around. I couldn't help but think about his drunken booze and blood fueled tour of America when I'd been in Hell, and what that had done to Beth.

Beth.

She was probably the most changed from this experience. She'd fallen away from her daily prayers, something I never knew her to do the whole time I'd known her - yet in the last year that had become less of a habit and more of an obligation when she thought of it.

Now she had been going mornings and evenings, though I suspected that might taper off to evenings like it had been when we were young. Whatever her Dad had said to her during their time alone, it had shifted her perspective. She seemed lighter, happier, and in spite of how bad I felt, it was a joy to hear her laughter as she joked with Sam, or watched something funny on TV.

It was the only light in my life, if I was being honest.

I took the cap off the bottle and started to pour the brown liquid into the ceramic mugs.

"Castiel," Sam said suddenly. My eyes shot up to see him looking in the mirror behind me. Behind Sam was a familiar trenchcoat, and tucked under Cas's arm was Ezekiel.

Sam spun around, catching Cas's free arm and supporting him from falling.

"Hey. Hey, hey. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Cas! Zeke!" I put the bottle down quickly and hurried around the table to help Sam and Ezekiel guide Cas toward the bed.

"Man, he is heavier than he looks," Ezekiel joked, but it fell short of the worried look in his eyes as they took a few steps.

"We got you," Sam said.

"You son of a bitch. You made it," I said, smiling in spite of myself. I reached out and squeezed Zeke's shoulder.

"I...I did?" Cas asked, his head swinging from Sam to me.

"I'm very surprised," Zeke said, frowning.

Cas's legs suddenly gave way and Sam moved to give more support.

"Whoa! You're okay," Sam said, slipping his shoulder under Cas's arm. Zeke was struggling to stay upright from what I could see, and I moved in to relieve him.

"Bed?" I suggested to Sam.

Together we hauled an unconscious Cas to the nearest bed - Sam's - and he flopped down on his back. Nearby, Zeke dropped into an armchair, and rubbed a hand across his eyes.

Behind us the motel door swung open, and Beth rushed in, looking straight at Cas, then Zeke.

"I heard you!" She said. "I came as fast I could."

She was panting from the exertion of running the five blocks from the church where she'd been praying. Moving quickly she took in Cas's state of unconsciousness and then turned to Zeke.

"Are you okay?" She asked, Zeke simply nodded and waved a hand in the air.

"Peachy."

"You made it back," she breathed with a smile of relief.

"Wouldn't do to leave you without your personal angels," Zeke chuckled, but he looked exhausted. I wondered just what it had taken to get both him and Cas back to this timeline.

"Anna?" Zeke asked, looking up at Beth.

"I'm sorry," she said sadly. He sucked in a short breath, closing his eyes for a moment, and then nodded once.

"I have to go," he said. Instantly he vanished to the sound of angel wings, and we were left staring at the now empty chair he'd been sitting in.

"Well, I could use that drink now," I said, my mind turning back to the whiskey I had been about to pour.

"Yeah," Sam agreed, grabbing two more cups from the cupboard, glasses this time.

I filled them up, and handed them out to Sam and Beth, then turned to hold my mug up in the air, looking over at Cas.

"Well… this is it," I announced.

"This is what?" Beth asked, looking at me in confusion. Beside me Sam took a sip of his drink.

"Team Free Will," I said. "One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, the preacher's daughter, and Mr Comatose. It's awesome."

Beth chuckled, held up her drink in a toast and then knocked back the whole thing.

Sam frowned, his face clearly showing his disapproval. "It's not funny."

I sipped my whiskey a little more leisurely than Beth, though I smiled at her enthusiasm.

"I'm not laughing," I said after a moment. If anything, I was thinking we were in over our heads, but it wouldn't be the first time, and it sure as hell wasn't likely to be the last.

Sam took another sip, and then sighed. "They all say we'll say yes."

"I know," I said with a nod. "It's getting annoying."

"What if they're right?" Sam asked.

"They're not," Beth said, certainty in her voice. I smiled over at her, loving the faith she had in us.

"I mean, why, why would we, either of us? But...I've been weak before," Sam said, the doubt showing in his voice, the way he was carrying himself. He still beat himself up over his choices, but we'd all made bad decisions before.

"Sam," I growled at our little brother, shaking my head.

"Michael got Dad to say yes," Sam pointed out.

"That was different. Anna was about to kill Mom," I countered.

"And if you could save Mom… or Beth…. what would you say?" Sam asked.

I looked sideways at Beth. I'd do anything for Beth or Mom, I knew that. But give in to Michael? Would I do it? Dad hadn't known the consequences of saying yes… what it might mean. I was in a completely different situation - I knew it would be a one way street.

I couldn't answer that question.

Beth was watching us both, and after a moment she put her empty glass on the tv stand behind her and reached out to hug Sam and I close to her.

"I believe in you guys," she said after a moment. It was just like the old days, feeling her love and support for us both - a resolution, no doubt, just pure blind faith that we were going to do the right thing. "We've got this," she added.

She let us go, slipping behind me to grab the bottle of whiskey from the table and holding it up. "To Team Free Will," she said with a smile, and I couldn't have loved her more.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

* * *

The song for this chapter is - Fix You by Coldplay

* * *

Phew! That took a long time to get written! Thank you everyone for your patience. I've had _a lot_ going on in real with deaths in the family, changes to my work hours and family commitments. I'm always hopeful that I can get things out quickly after an update, and I certainly have a lot of inspirations coming in, so fingers crossed things settle enough to give me some writing time and energy.

Welcome to all the new readers! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to drop me a private message or a review - I always love to hear back and endeavour to get back to you when I can.

JEFFERSON is wanting his story written, but I think that's a little ways off for an update as I still want to plot out a bit more of the start of his story. In the meantime, I continue on with Season 5…

Hope you enjoyed this take on _The Song Remains The Same_ \- I wanted to bring a little more of Patrick into it, and show the different kind of man he was as a hunter, compared to John, and a bit of where Beth's faith in God comes from.

Cole (who is borrowed from my friend EarthhAngel's story _How To Save A Life,_ also here on Fanfiction) came along as this episode is a turning point in her story, and you'll get to see her point of view and more of her relationship with John reflected in this episode when it's published over at _How To Save A Life._

Lots more goodies on the way too, stay tuned!

P.S. Please leave a review, you know I love them!


	16. My Bloody Valentine

_Grab me by my ankles, I've been flying for too long  
_ _I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song  
_ _And I want you so badly but you could be anyone  
_ _I couldn't hide from the thunder in a sky full of song_

 _Hold me down, I'm so tired now  
_ _Aim your arrow at the sky  
_ _Take me down, I'm too tired now  
_ _Leave me where I lie_

 _And I can tell that I'm in trouble when that music starts to play  
_ _In a city without seasons, it keeps raining in LA  
_ _I feel like I'm about to fall, the room begins to sway  
_ _And I can hear the sirens but I cannot walk away_

* * *

 **MY BLOODY VALENTINE**

* * *

 _ **7 weeks ago - Christmas Eve  
Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
Bobby's House**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _It had been a rough couple of weeks. After the whole body swapping incident with those kids, we'd pretty much hightailed it to Bobby's and just laid low. And by laying low I meant that there was a hunt that Bobby had roped us into for a hunter he knew._

 _Still, a hunt close to our second home away from home was still a rest for us - at least we got to sleep in a familiar bed at night._

 _Now it was Christmas Eve, my favourite time of the year. I looked at myself in the mirror of the tiny upstairs bathroom, noting the large black rings under my eyes and the pallid complexion. I really needed that break we'd been talking about._

 _Brushing out my hair, I left it long and loose down my back until it hit the middle of my back. It wasn't often I got to wear it out, why not make the most of it?_

 _There was a knock at the door and I quickly moved to unlock it, then peered out. "Yes?"_

" _Hey," Dean said, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms. "You ever coming out of there, or do I have to join you?"_

 _I laughed and shook my head, opening the door wider. "Sorry, just… thinking about things."_

" _Like?"_

 _I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about it, but I'm sure he hadn't missed the fact that I'd been spending more and more time in the shed turned makeshift-gym, working out - punching the stuffing out of the boxing bag. I could barely feel anything by the time I stumbled around to the bench behind the shed, next to the Magnolia tree that Sam had planted for our baby._

" _Things," I said after a moment, "nothing for you to worry about." I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, mustering up a smile._

" _Oh, yeah, that's comforting," Dean said with a frown, slipping his arm around my waist and pulling me into the circle of his arms._

 _Blowing out a short, hot breath I sighed and leaned into him, letting myself collapse into his arms and wrap my arms around his waist._

" _We can't fix everything, Dean," I said after a moment. He simply held me, silent, for a few moments before he squeezed me close._

" _I know," he whispered. "I wish things were different too."_

 _Nodding, I buried my face into his neck and kissed the softness of the skin there._

" _DEAN!" Sam's voice echoed up the stairs, followed by maniacal laughter and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. "A little help here?!"_

 _Dean chuckled, pulling back just enough to look down into my eyes. "Should we rescue him, or leave JJ to torture him to death? You know Cole has been teaching that kid self-defense already?"_

 _I laughed, completely unsurprised by that comment. "I'm surprised he didn't know how to load a gun by the age of two."_

 _Dean shuddered. "You remember what he was like… when Zach zapped us to the future?" I nodded, falling quiet. There was a lot from that future to contemplate; Dean noticed and his expression turned to concern._

" _Hey, no, no, don't go there. I promise, you want to talk about any of that we can,_ tomorrow. _But tonight, this is your favourite night. And everyone is waiting downstairs for you to announce it's time to leave."_

 _I smiled, sucking in another deep, shuddering breath. He was right. This was my night, and for nearly a decade we'd been doing this tradition. It was nearing midnight, which meant we had to get going if we were to make the midnight mass - and as much as I felt like crawling back into bed for a week, or two, I couldn't just give up on the few important things in this family. I pushed all the pain and hurt to the back of my mind, burying it deep._

" _Okay," I smiled. "Another time. Let's go, we don't want to be late."_

* * *

 **Present Day  
Bozeman, Montana  
Motel Room**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

It was barely dawn when I heard the shuffling around in the motel room. I opened one eye to peek sleepily at the disturbance. Sam was pulling on a pair of running shoes, and looked up at me as I lifted my head.

"Hey," he said with a small smile. "Sorry, go back to sleep."

"You okay?" I asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah," Sam said, standing up and nodding at me, swinging his arms around to warm up. "Just restless, I need a run."

I sat up at that, and squinted at Sam. "It's barely light outside," I said.

"Beth, I think I'll manage," Sam chuckled, shaking his head. I wasn't convinced. I swung my legs out of bed and moved to the door, pulling back the faded green curtain at the window next to it and peering out.

"It looks cold, put on a jacket," I countered. "You could catch a cold."

Sam paused, frowning at me and looked at the shorts and tank top I was wearing. "Says the pot…" he said.

" _I'm_ not going outside for a run," I pointed out, crossing my arms. I couldn't help but notice that it _was cold_ though, the hairs on my arm were standing up and I was getting goosebumps.

Sam sighed, and reached down beside his bed, pulling out his winter jacket and brandishing it in the air. "Okay, fine, happy?" He asked. I smiled, nodding at him and stepping aside to let him past.

"Exercise is the best thing to get that restless feeling out," I added as he started to open the door. "But don't over do it."

"Yeah…. right," Sam said hesitantly. "Uh, Beth, are you okay?"

"Of course!" I said with a smile. "Just looking after my little brother."

"Okay…"

"Go, go," I said, taking his jacket and slipping his arm into the sleeve, spinning him around and making sure he was rugged up before he went outside. "Take your time!"

"Do you … want me to take my time?" Sam asked, confused, throwing a look back at Dean who was still sleeping in bed. "Like… how long do you need?"

I looked back at Dean, then at Sam again, seeing the implied reasoning behind his words and I blushed.

"No!" I protested. "This isn't… I mean.. I wasn't… that's not what I meant." Sam laughed at my obvious discomfort.

"Okay Beth, I'll grab breakfast while I'm out too," he said, shaking his head and taking a few steps toward the sidewalk.

"That's not what I meant!" I called out after him, but he just waved at me and then started to jog away. I saw the cold air waft from his mouth in a cold, white steam and stepped out into the cold.

"Sammy?! Put your hood on!"

Sam turned and looked incredulously at me, throwing his arms out as he jogged backwards.

"Would you go back to bed? Please!" Sam asked, and then he turned and started to speed up as he ran toward the park. I smiled when I saw him pull the hood up over his hair, and quickly shut the door on the cold.

Shivering, I turned back toward the warm bed I'd just vacated, and looked at Dean sleeping peacefully on his back, one arm thrown up behind his head. He shifted with a soft grunt, and his other arm slid out to my side of the bed, seeking me out in his sleep. I smiled at the movement. He was so adorable.

My gaze traced the line from his mouth, down his bare chest, to the blanket where it was tucked around his hips.

And sexy. Let's not forget sexy.

Suddenly I was grateful that Sam had misunderstood my good intentions on keeping him warm and safe from the cold. He'd just given me an excellent idea.

The blankets were pulled haphazardly around Dean's body from our broken night of sleep. We'd both been a bit restless at different parts of the evening, finally falling into a deeper slumber in the early morning hours. I debated letting him have a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep, and joining him in that… then decided that we could have that, _after_ we gave ourselves a good reason to fall back asleep.

With a grin, I stripped off my clothes and loosened the blankets around Dean so that I could pull the end up, slipping under them.

 _ **Want to read about what happened under the sheets? Head on over to my story Dean & Beth: The X-files for the latest update**_

* * *

 **Several Hours Later  
** **Victim's Apartment**

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Sam had taken his sweet time getting back to the motel. I'd become worried about him, thinking he might have fallen into the lake, or run down a dark alley only to be set upon by …. well there wasn't anything I could think of that Sam couldn't handle by himself, but _maybe_ there was something. Like, a den of chupacabra!

When he had returned with donuts, coffee, and the address of the apartment featuring our latest case I'd volunteered to go with him. I was seriously creeped out at our case of the two star crossed lovers who had… literally… eaten each other to death.

Romeo & Juliet mixed up with Hannibal Lector. _Disgusting._

"You know, you didn't have to come with me," Sam said when he pulled the car up to the curb.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I mean, you and Dean could have handled the coroner together why I did this," he said. I looked over at Sam, his big brown eyes looking at me with concern.

"Oh Sammy, you need a partner too sometimes," I said. "Dean can handle the coroner on his own, he's a big boy."

I wasn't sure Dean felt the same way, what with the incredulous look he'd given me when I announced I'd be accompanying Sam to the victim's house. He'd been a bit very quiet when we'd dropped him at the hospital. I pushed that thought out of my mind and focused on the task at hand - we had a job to do.

Climbing out of the Impala, I took a moment to adjust my pants suit and looked up at the unassuming apartment with its brick veneer and huge bay window overlooking the street. Sam shut the driver door and stepped up on to the sidewalk, I hurried over to him and smoothed out the lapels of his jacket.

"Here, Sammy, you've got it a bit… twisted…" I felt heavy eyes on me and looked up, stopping my hands at Sam's facial expression. "What?"

"Seriously, what has gotten into you?" Sam asked.

I stepped back, frowning, and dropped my hands down.

"Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "I was just trying to help, sheesh."

Feeling a little put out, I scowled and looked up the steps to the apartment. "Come on, let's get this over with." I started up the stairs and when I reached the top, rapped on the door.

"Beth, I didn't mean to upset you," Sam said, joining me. "I can look after my own… suit."

"Yeah, of course you can!" I said, frowning. "I wasn't saying you couldn't. Just… well, helping."

I was gnawing on my lower lip. We'd been through a lot with the trip back in time, and then Cas being under the weather from all the time travelling. Ezekiel had disappeared again, his duty done. A few weeks we'd spent with Ben and Lisa, Dean was especially enjoying the time with the growing boy. He and Ben had gone with Sam to a few ball games, done the fatherly things that he'd never had with John. It had been nice. "My dad set me straight on a few things and… well… you know you mean the world to me Sammy…"

I was interrupted when the door opened.

My voice trailed off to look at a young woman, curly brown hair and hazel eyes. She looked expectantly at us. In unison, Sam and I both reached into our jackets and pulled out our fake ID badges, flashing them at her.

"FBI," Sam said. "I'm Agent Cliff, this is Agent Stephens. We just had a few questions about your roommate."

The first place that our interviewee Amy showed us was the kitchen. There was still blood on the Valentine's Day postcard stuck to the fridge, but it looked as if everything else had been cleaned up. She hovered just outside of the room in the adjoining living area where she was packing up things into boxes, as if afraid to come any closer.

"So...you were the one who found the bodies?" Sam asked.

"There was blood everywhere…" the girl replied, grimacing, "and... other stuff...I think Alice was already dead." This perked my interest, I looked up from the post card.

"But Russell wasn't?" I asked.

"I think he was, mostly, except... he was still sort of...chewing a little," she said, a look of complete disgust on her face.

"Oh," Sam said, looking at me and grimacing. "Uh huh."

"How do two people even do that? Eat each other to death?" Amy asked.

I was asking myself the same question, there was a number of things it could be… _witches, ghouls, rakshasas… wendigo?_ I shuddered, recalling our own encounters with wendigos. It had been a while since we'd encountered one of those. Definitely didn't fit the bill here though, both our victims - and perpetrators - were dead.

"That's a really good question…" I murmured, looking around the pristine apartment. Whoever had cleaned up the blood and gore from the kitchen had done a good job on the rest of the house too. Or was it always this clean?

"Amy, the last few days, did you notice Alice acting erratically?" Sam asked, taking the lead on the questioning.

"How do you mean?" Amy asked, confused.

"Well, did she seem… unusually hostile, aggressive?" Sam asked.

"Anything that is out of the ordinary for Alice," I added, turning my attention to the girl who had picked up a small teddy bear from the fireplace mantle and was hugging

"No way. Alice never drank, never even swore. She was a nice girl. And I'm talking, like, a _nice girl_ …" she said with emphasis, "like she still had her promise ring, if you know what I mean."

Now, I couldn't judge, I'd been twenty-one before I lost my virginity - to Dean - but circumstances had been different there. These kids were in college…. Promiscuity was kind of the in thing, wasn't it?

"She was a virgin?" I asked.

"No premarital," Amy replied with a nod. She looked over at me and lowered her voice, in a girl talk conspiratorial tone. "I used to wonder how she did it. I mean, you know, didn't do it. It was her first date in months. She was so excited."

Sam raised an eyebrow, looking over at me. I wondered if he was thinking about how he'd left Dean and I to the motel room this morning.

"Apparently, they were both pretty excited," he said.

* * *

 _ **Back at the Motel**_

 **Dean's POV**

Man, this motel room was dreary. I'd seen more than my fair share of motel rooms in my lifetime, but this one… with its baby puke green walls, and red palm frond wall paper…. What the hell was up with that?

I sighed and looked back to the laptop in front of me, putting my feet up on the table and stretching out.

This had to be an open and shut case, surely. It _had_ to be demons, right? Life had seemed so much simpler before we'd been introduced to demons. Four or five years ago they'd been _unheard of_ in our lives, to the point that Beth's possession had been my first encounter with demons, and my last until those planes had started crashing over five years later.

Yes. Life had been so much simpler before demons and angels, and the damn Apocalypse.

I was tired. Even when I managed to get sleep, it felt empty, like there was a constant drip of energy seeping out of my body, one that was as fast as the method I used to fill it up. Last night had been more tiring than usual, when Sam had fallen asleep I'd taken my time teasing Beth to a silent orgasm, and then indulged myself. This morning had been a wonderful surprise, albeit only adding to the exhaustion currently weighing me down.

The motel room door swung open, and I looked up quickly, eyeing off the fast food bags Sam walked in carrying. Behind him, Beth was juggling the drinks, and effortlessly kicked the door closed with her foot as she came inside.

"How'd it go?" I asked. I was relieved to have them back - going to the coroner on my own had been… taxing. In more ways than one. I wasn't used to not having Beth at my side.

"Um...No EMF, no sulfur. Ghost possession and demonic possession are both probably out," Sam said as he dropped the bags on the table. I pondered, a slight frown creasing my brow as Beth walked over and handed me a beer, leaning down to kiss my cheek.

I smiled, turning my head enough to catch her lips with a quick peck before speaking.

"Hmm. That's where I was puttin' my money."

"Nope," Sam said and Beth shook her head in agreement.

"Well, then what, then?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. Beth frowned down at me and quickly put the remaining drinks on the table, before sitting down on the chair next to mine.

"Are you okay?" She asked, leaning forward to cup my cheek in her hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

"You don't look fine," she insisted, so I shrugged.

"I'm a little tired, but nothing to worry about," I admitted, then I remembered where I'd been before returning to the motel. "Oh, dude! At the coroner's... you didn't see these bodies. I mean, these two started eating a...and they just... _kept going_. I mean, their stomachs were full. Like - like...Thanksgiving-dinner full." I gestured with my hands, motioning out a huge stomach in front of me as I described what I'd seen. Beth looked a little green at the thought and I dropped my hands down to my legs.

"Talk about codependent," I finished. I could have laughed, because Sam called Beth and I codependent all the time, but we weren't anywhere near _eating each other_ devoted.

"Well...I mean, we got our feelers out. Not much more we can do tonight," Sam said, taking a burger out of the bag and then looking over at us. "All right. I'm just gonna get going..."

Huh?

We both looked over at Sam at the same time. "Sorry?" I asked.

"Where are you going?" Beth asked.

"To get my own room," Sam said, hooking his thumb toward the door. "It's Valentine's day. You guys go ahead. Unleash the kraken, have your fun," he said, waving a hand around. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Unleash the kraken?" Beth asked, looking just as confused as I was feeling.

"Yeah, dude, this isn't Norway… speak English," I said.

"Guys, it's Valentine's day," Sam said. "Your favorite holiday, remember? I mean, what do you always call it... uh, unattached drifter Christmas? It's like the Olympics for your whole phone numbers competition?"

"Huh," I said. _He had been paying attention._ "I guess we're not feeling it this year."

Sam looked from me to Beth and smirked. "You guys aren't into bars full of lonely men and women?"

Beth shrugged at Sam. "Well, maybe in the past, but we uh, we haven't done that little game in a while now."

"Oh," Sam said, looking surprised. "Well there's always… romantic dinner, moonlit walks, crazy monkey sex… I don't know, most over-rated night of the year."

We were only a few weeks out from our second anniversary, and we'd kind of skipped the last few Valentine's Days what with the whole trying to avoid going to Hell, and then Beth having only been returned to me a few weeks earlier from the pagan Underworld where she'd been kept hostage by Hades. No, this holiday was fast becoming one of non-importance to us.

I stood up, stretching my legs and walked over to the sink, I sipped at my beer as I turned back to Sam and Beth.

"Well... be that as it may...I don't know. We haven't really done V-Day for a few years now…" I pointed out, looking questioningly at Beth. _Did she want to go out for dinner?_

"Yeah, it's kind of lost its appeal of late," she said.

Sam almost spluttered into his drink. "So… you're _both_ not into having a room of your own and...you know?" He trailed off, the implications heavy in the air.

"Nah, I guess not," I shrugged, taking another drink while Beth had jumped up and was checking out something on the computer at the desk in the corner. Sam continued to stare at us both until I felt uncomfortable.

"Ahh. What?" I asked finally.

"When a dog doesn't eat… that's when you know something's really wrong," Sam said.

I rolled my eyes and looked up at him - I mean, dude, Beth and I had gone at it _twice_ in the last twelve hours, what was he worried about? "Remarkably patronizing concern duly noted," I said, walking back to the table and glancing at the report again. "Nothing's wrong. We gonna work or what?"

"Nope," Beth said, looking up with a grin.

"Oh man, did you just make dinner plans?" I asked with a half-hearted joking tone.

"Nope," she said, grinning at me. "We're going to the movies."

Sam snorted. "She's totally making you go to that new Valentine's Day romantic comedy," he said. "What's it called? Oh…that's right... _Valentine's Day._ You are so screwed."

"Ha!" Beth said with a shake of her head. "Wrong again, Sammy. We're off to see _The Wolfman_. Scary _and_ a classical remake. This is going to be _awesome!_ Get your jackets!"

"Wait… jackets, plural?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, of course. I'm not leaving Sammy alone on _Valentine's Day,"_ she said. "What sort of family would we be? Come on Sam, you're coming with us." She skipped over to her side of the bed and leaned over, grabbing her leather jacket.

I exchanged a look of confusion and amusement with Sam, though to be fair he probably was starting to look more worried than anything. I thought about our destination and smiled, maybe a movie would be just what the doctor ordered to get our minds off our lives for a bit.

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later  
Cinema**_

 **Beth's POV**

I was curled up under Dean's arm, my head resting on his shoulder as the end movie credits started to roll. The movie had been far from the distraction I'd planned. Instead I found myself contemplating what it meant to have a loved one turn into a beast. As the lights turned on in the theatre, and the few viewers who weren't off seeing the rom com next door exited, Dean and Sam stayed seated, as did I.

"Well, that was a bit disturbing," Dean said after a moment.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Not sure it was a good choice, Beth."

"Seconded," I said with a short nod.

"Well, if I ever turn into a werewolf, or a vampire, or anything like that, you have full permission to do what has to be done," Dean said.

"Dean...don't…" Sam started but I cut him off.

"Yeah, you know that's not going to happen," I said.

Dean looked from me to Sam, and I sat forward, breaking away from Dean's embrace, turning to look at our little brother. "We stick together, always." I added. "Right?"

"Uh, yeah," Dean said after a pause. "Of course."

"Beth, are you okay?" Sam asked. The tension in the air was palpable, and now they both had the concerned puppy-dog looks on their faces. I frowned, shrugging at them both and opened my mouth.

"Yeah, of course I'm okay," I insisted with a nod. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've just been, a little…"

"... June Cleaver-ish," Dean supplied when Sam's words faltered. I looked at him with both eyebrows raised. June Cleaver? Was he for real?

"Uh, yeah, like that," Sam agreed. "I mean, not that it's a bad thing," he hurried to add when my facial expression changed to a look of dismay. "It's sweet. But… I mean, just so long as you're okay?"

"I'm _fine,"_ I said, looking back at Dean. "I mean, _someone_ needs to look after you guys. And we've all been through a lot recently, so, excuse me for caring."

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean anything by it Beth," Sam said with a smile, looking over my shoulder at Dean.

Dean leaned into me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and neck and pulling me back into him. "You're the best," he whispered, kissing behind my ear. "Don't ever change." I smiled at how his voice could still make my heart skip a beat.

"We should go get something to eat," Sam suggested, "I'm starving."

"Yeah," I nodded and reluctantly pulled out of Dean's arms to stand up, Dean following suit. "Good idea."

On our way out Dean glanced at his phone and then stepped away with a frown, dialling into his voicemail. After a moment, he rejoined us with a scowl on his face.

"Hold the food, we got more dead bodies," he said.

* * *

 _ **St. James Medical Center**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd taken a detour past the motel for our FBI suits - Beth insisting we should look the part, and then arrived at the hospital. I started to lead the way down the winding corridors to the coroner's office in back. Beth skipped alongside me, slipping her hand down to take mine. It wasn't exactly FBI protocol, but it was late, and no one seemed to be looking, I squeezed her hand and threw her a smile - it was good to see her feeling light hearted.

Sam on the other hand was looking like he was about to jump out of his skin. We passed some CEO looking board member in a suit with a briefcase half way along the final corridor, and Sam practically bent his neck on a 180 degree angle to watching the guy pass. Then he sniffed the air.

"You okay?" I asked, my step faltering for a moment before resuming.

"Yeah," Sam said. "I'm fine." It wasn't convincing by any means, but I didn't have time to pursue it as we reached the swinging doors into the morgue.

"Agent Marley, you just can't stay away," the jovial voice of Dr Corman said from the other side of a gurney. I glanced down to see a body under a sheet and dropped Beth's hand, stepping forward with a smile.

"Heard you tagged another double suicide," I said to the doctor. He was a cuddly looking fellow, older, head full of white hair and a matching beard. He could have easily played Santa at the hospital's Christmas party. He had that sparkle in the eye, and cheerful manner that immediately endeared you to him - I'd liked him on the spot.

"Well, I just finished closing them up," Corman said with a nod at the body on the table before him.

I gestured to first Beth and then Sam. "Doc, this is my partner, special agent Stephens, and one of our specialist consultants, special agent Cliff," I said.

"Agents," Corman said, nodding to them both. "I've finished my prelims. I pulled the organ sets and sent off the tox samples." He walked over to a corner, shrugging out of his white lab coat and hanging it up on a coat rack.

"Great," Sam said with a smile. "You mind if we take a look at the bodies?"

"Not at all," Corman said, opening a refrigerator door where there sat a number of plastic containers with different organs housed within. "But like I said….their... good-and-plenties are already tupperwared," he added with a grin.

"Peachy," Beth said with a forced smile.

Dr Corman turned to pick up his jacket and tossed me a set of keys. "Leave the keys with Marty up front. And please...agents….refrigerate after opening...:" With that he put his hat on his head and left us to our own devices.

Sam and Beth were straight into the bits and pieces of our latest victims. I was looking at a heart, in a small tupperware container, and quite thankful that I hadn't eaten at this stage. Not much threw me off my food, but I had to say the juicy innards of dead people was up there as something that could. I needed to distract myself…. Glancing over at Beth, and seeing the way she was staring into a microscope, looking at some piece of one of the victims, I got an idea.

"Hey, hey Beth?"

She didn't distract easy, that was for sure.

"Mmmmm?" She asked, not even looking up as she examined the organ (was it a spleen?) in her hands.

I held out my tupperware container and scooted a little closer, seeing her eyes flick toward me as I moved.

"Be my Valentine?" I asked with a quirky grin, offering her the heart in my hands.

Beth paused and pulled back from the microscope, her mouth turning upwards at the corner as she tried not to laugh too much. But I had her, I _totally_ had her.

"Eh?" I asked again, grinning widely at her as I brandished the heart.

"Cute, Dean," she said, this time unable to hide the smile.

I felt pretty pleased with myself at her smile. "I thought so…" I said with a chuckle.

Beth took the heart from me, leaning over to plant a kiss on my cheek.

"You're always my Valentine," she said with a smile. This made me smile even wider, she had me, every time. I nuzzled her nose with mine and kissed her lips again.

"Good," I said after a moment.

Beth looked down at the heart she was holding, frowned after a moment and looked up at Sam.

"Hey Sam, does your heart have any marks on it?"

I scooted a little closer, trying to get a look at what she had noticed. Sam looked down at his heart again, this time more intently. After a moment, he glanced up and nodded. "Yeah, look at this," he said. They came together to exchange hearts and Sam dropped his down on the table. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. These are identical marks," he said.

I squinted in the poor lighting at the hearts. "What?" I could barely make out some kind of a symbol.

"Here," Beth said. "See?" I did see, but I couldn't make out what it was that I was _seeing_ exactly.

"It looks like some kind of letter," Sam added, leaning in. "Oh no."

"What?" I asked, trying to look a little closer.

"I think it's…"

"Enochian," Beth finished his sentence, looking up and nodding. "Yeah, definitely."

"You mean like angel scratches? So you think it's like the tagging on our ribs?" I asked.

"I don't know," Sam said.

"Sure looks similar," Beth said. "I can't translate it, but it's definitely Enochian."

"Ah, hell," I said. I didn't wait for anything else. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialled before saying another word.

" _Hello?"_

"Cas," I said. "It's Dean."

" _You need me?"_

"Yeah," I said. "Room 31C, basement level...St. James medical center," I said, turning around to double check the number on the door, only to find myself face to face with the angel, trenchcoat and all, his phone up to his year.

"I'm there now," Cas said. _Well, duh._

"Yeah, I get that," I said.

"I'm gonna hang up now," he said.

"Right."

Cas looked past me to Sam and Beth at the table, and Beth walked up to Cas with the heart in her hands.

"Here, Cas, can you look at this? It looks like Enochian?" She asked. Cas peered down and then moved them both back to the table where there was better light.

"You're right," Cas said after a few seconds. "These are angelic marks. I imagine you'll find similar marks on the other couples' hearts as well…"

"So, what are they? I mean, what do they mean?" Sam asked.

"It's a mark of union. This man and woman were intended to mate," Cas said.

I raised my eyebrow at him, coming to stand next to Beth. "Okay…" I said. _Soulmates?_ "But who put them there?"

"Well," Cas replied. "Your people call them 'Cupid'."

"A what?" Sam asked.

"What human myth has mistaken for "Cupid" is actually a lower order of angel. Technically it's a cherub, third-class," Cas said.

"Cherub?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're all over the world. There are dozens of them," Cas said with a short nod. Beth was frowning beside me, clearly taking in all this information and mulling it over.

"Cupid. You mean the little flying fat kid in diapers?" I questioned.

Cas frowned at me. "They're not incontinent."

"No, but they do appear in most of the classical romantic eras…" Beth said. "Makes sense that there is a basis for the mythology. But… Valentine's Day? Couples? That goes back beyond the classical era of romanticism."

"Right," Cas confirmed.

Sam looked troubled. "So what you're saying…"

"What I'm saying is a Cupid has gone rogue and we have to stop him-before he kills again," Cas said.

"Naturally," Sam said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Of course we do," I chimed in. Because, what else did people do on Valentine's Day other than go on a hunt for freaking _Cupid._

* * *

 _ **7 months ago  
Christmas Eve  
Dean's POV**_

 _Mass had been as dull and boring as always, but I had to admit, the carols were growing on me. Beth still loved it of course, and I was pleased to see that her mood seemed to have improved somewhat with us all slipping into our annual tradition._

 _For us, it had started back when she first joined our family, for Beth she had been doing this since she was born. As a young child, it had been her father leading the mass. There was no coincidence that Beth was our biblical scholar and expert now. She ran circles around me._

 _Trudging up the steps to Bobby's front door, I looked up as snow started to fall, and Beth let out a little squeal of excitement._

" _It's snowing!" She said, a smile spreading over her face._

 _Beside her, Sam carried JJ - fast asleep - in his arms and into the house. I grinned, and slipped a hand around Beth's waist, pulling her into me and turning us around to look back into the night._

 _The salvage yard was poorly lit at night, but there was enough light from the front porch to see the snow starting to come down in earnest. It was beautiful._

" _Going to be a lot of snow on the ground tomorrow," I said, nuzzling the back of her neck. "Maybe we'll get stuck here."_

" _Ha!" Beth snorted, turning her face to look sideways at me. "Like a little snow ever stopped you. We're going to Lisa's."_

" _I know," I said, kissing into her neck._

 _I had to admit I was nervous. Beth had been more and more distant lately around visits to see Lisa and Ben. She encouraged us to go, and if it went more than a few months, she scheduled a drive down to Indiana to ensure we kept in touch. It had been good for us, especially for Ben and I to get to know each other._

 _But with Beth, there was something missing._

 _As we walked back inside, Beth led the way up to our room and met Sam on the landing._

" _He's sound asleep," Sam said. "You sure you want me to put him in my old bed?"_

 _Sam, Beth and I had shared this room for years, rotating between the single in the corner, and the double. Most of the time it was Beth and I ending up in the double, or Dad and I had been in there, and Sam landed the single while Beth slept in with Cole._

 _Cole was gone for now. I found myself getting more and more frustrated with her and the lone wolf attitude she had going. She'd turned up two days ago, announced she was in the middle of a hunt, and left JJ with us and Bobby for Christmas._

" _Yeah, he's fine," Beth said with a smile. "Are you going upstairs?"_

 _Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'll take the king size bed up in Cole's room over that single, any day," he chuckled. With that he turned and started back down the stairs. "I'll put the presents out for JJ," he said. "Unless you want to?"_

" _We'll do it," I said, and Sam shot me a look that bordered on anguish. I shifted uncomfortably under his attention. He was no doubt thinking about the fact that if we hadn't lost our own child, we'd have been doing this for him. It wasn't the point, but so much of Sam's persona seemed to be about what was missing in life. Why did everything have to be about something we'd lost with him?_

" _Good night, Sam," I said, half-smiling, half-rolling my eyes at him._

 _Moments later Beth and I were in the library, the Christmas tree we'd picked out yesterday tucked into the corner with a bunch of Bobby's books stacked at the back. It looked out of place in this obscure dusty room, but when I saw Beth's smile it melted away any doubts I might have had about volunteering us for this duty._

 _She straightened from laying a couple of large boxes under the tree, and slipped her arm around my waist, leaning into me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed her softly, placing a kiss the side of her head._

 _We stood silent, staring at the twinkling lights as they flickered through the varying colours until all I could see was a wash of colour. It reminded me of a Christmas, long before Beth joined us, and I sighed softly._

" _What you thinking about?" Beth asked softly, her arm tightening slightly._

 _I looked down at my chest, and the bare space where I was used to seeing the amulet I'd worn for so long, before giving it to Cas. I reached up a hand and touched my breastplate, glancing over at Beth._

" _First Christmas without it," I said quietly, and she nodded. Of course she knew what I was talking about._

" _Cas will bring it back when he's found what he's looking for," she said, placing her hand over mine and leaving it resting on my chest._

" _Yeah…" I said, but even I could hear the doubt in my voice._

 _Beth raised her face to kiss my cheek, leaning her forehead against the side of my head._

" _Love you," she said, and it made me smile. I turned my head sideways, until I could kiss her on the lips._

" _Ditto, sugarpie," I replied. For a moment I just watched her as she looked back at the tree, smiling to herself._

" _For Pete's sake go to bed, ya pair of idjits, it's two in the bloody morning!" Bobby's grumpy voice sounded from under the window where his makeshift bed was now located._

 _I startled, having forgotten all about him being there. Beth giggled, and pushed me playfully toward the archway leading to the stairs._

" _Sorry Bobby," she said, "good night! Merry Christmas!"_

" _Merry Christmas…" Bobby grumbled back at us and then we hurried up the stairs, chuckling to each other._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
**_ _ **Restaurant**_

 **Beth's POV**

Dead bodies or not, we were all starving by the time we finished up in the morgue, and Cas had an idea about where we might run into our rogue Cupid at the same time.

We found ourselves in a restaurant sporting a bar, still pretty crowded for the fact that it was going on ten o'clock at night. Then again, it was Valentine's Day, and the place was rife with couples out on dates. We were practically drooling as a waitress placed burgers in front of Dean and I, and a salad in front of Sam. I frowned distastefully at the salad, and shook my head, picking up my burger and taking a large bite.

"So, what, you just happen to know he likes the cosmos at this place?" Dean asked Cas from across the table as he lifted off the top bun of his burger and squirted extra ketchup on his meat patty.

"This place is a nexus of human reproduction. It's exactly the kind of of garden the Cupid will come to- to pollinate," Cas said, looking at Dean's actions. Dean had the burger halfway to his mouth, but when he heard the word pollinate, he put it back down on his plate and frowned at it.

"Wait a minute. You're not hungry?" Sam asked.

"No," Dean said. I chewed on my second bite of burger, and raised an eyebrow at him, Dean stared back at me.

"Really?" I asked after a moment.

"What?" He asked. "I'm not hungry." I shrugged at the challenging look he threw me as Cas reached across the table.

"Then you're not gonna finish that?" He asked, not waiting for an answer as he took the burger from Dean's plate and lifted the burger to his mouth. I watched, curious, because I'd never seen the angel actually _eat._ Cas paused for a moment, burger suspended in the air, and looked sideways to the back of the room.

"He's here," Cas said.

This caught our attention, I glanced around the diner for something out of place, but saw nothing.

"Where? I don't see anything," Sam asked, doing the same.

I followed Cas' eye movements, seeing them dart around the room. He looked up at some tacky tinsel red hearts and little cupids suspended from the ceiling and saw them start to move as ifcaught in a breeze, Cas' eyes dropped to a booth, and I saw a red napkin blow into the face of a young man sitting with a woman.

"There," Cas said, nodding toward the back of the diner. Dean twisted in his seat to look.

"You mean the same-side-of-the-booth couple over there?" Dean asked, indicating the same man and a woman who had just changed their demeanour from nervous first date to snuggled up in the middle of a central booth, initiating a passionate kiss.

Cas nodded. "Meet me in the back," he said.

* * *

 **Dean's POV**

By the time we reached the storeroom out the back of the restaurant, Cas was already there. He was standing in the middle of the room, his hands in the air as if holding on to a piece of rope.

"Cas, where is he?" Sam asked, getting straight to the point.

"I have him tethered," Cas replied, taking a step forward. "Zoda kama mahrana. Manifest yourself."

I looked around, waiting for some baby with wings to materialise out of thin air. And nothing. Beside me, Beth frowned in Cas's direction, and then looked around the room too.

"Uh, so… I'm… I'm not seeing anyone," Beth whispered as if afraid she was going to upset Cas or something by his apparent inability to manifest an angel.

"So, where is he?" I asked more directly.

"Here I am!" Called out a voice behind me, and just like that I was enveloped in big, strong arms wrapping around my front and lifting me off the ground.

"Oof!" I grunted, looking at Beth and Sam. "Help!"

"Oh, help is on the way," said the joyful fellow holding me up. "Yes, it is. Yes, it is." He squeezed me tight and then dropped me back to the ground.

"Hello, you!" The man exclaimed toward Cas. I got a glimpse of the intruder as he pushed past me and picked up Castiel in a similar hug to the one he'd just given me.

"Oooh," the man said as he squeezed Cas tight, causing the angel to grunt.

What I was looking at was a tall, fleshy man with fresh pink skin… _soft like a baby,_ I thought. And he was as naked as a newborn too. I averted my eyes, looking at Cas who was peering at me over the man's shoulder, still embraced tightly.

"This is Cupid?"

"Yes," Cas said as Cupid put him down on the ground, turning to look at Sam.

"And look at you, huh?" He said cheerfully, putting his arms out.

"No," Sam said, holding a warning gesture up in front of him. He took a few steps away, but the angel teleported to right in front of him, and ignoring all social cues picked Sam up, hugging him too.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Cupid exclaimed.

"Is this a fight? Are we in a fight?" I asked, confused by all the hugging.

"No, silly," Beth said from beside me. "I mean, clearly not, he's just… he's just saying hi, right? Hi Cupid!" The angel dropped Sam and turned around to beam at Beth, and when he opened his arms up she scurried over to give him a huge hug. Cupid laughed and squeezed Beth tight.

"This is… their handshake," Cas supplied.

"I don't like it," I said. I didn't like it on many levels. I didn't like the way I felt violated by the unwelcome naked man hug, and I didn't like the way he was squeezing my wife nice and tight right now, and I most certainly didn't like the fact that she seemed unfazed by all of this… skin and … hugging.

"No one likes it," Cas said.

"I like him!" Beth declared, twisting from where she was still hugging the angel, and looking at me.

"Oh God," I groaned, running a hand over my eyes. _What the hell was going on with her?_

"Mmm," Cupid said, finally letting Beth go and giving us all a big smile. "What can I do for you?"

"We have a couple of questions for you," Beth said.

"Why are you doing this?" Cas asked, straight to business. The angel flashed him a confused frown.

"Doing what?"

"Your targets... the ones you've marked...They're slaughtering each other," Cas said. I almost believed the look of surprise on the guy's face.

"What? They are?" Cupid asked in a high pitched voice.

"Do we really know it's him?" Beth asked, jumping unexpectedly to his defense. She was standing waaaay too close to him for my comfort. I didn't like it.

"Listen, birthday suit, we know, okay?" I said, ignoring Beth. "We know you been flittin' around, popping people with your poison arrow, making them murder each other!"

"What we don't know is why," Cas said, completely on my side. _At least someone was._

"You think that I…?" Cupid stuttered, the words catching in his throat as he put his hand over his chest. "Well, uh...I don't know what to say." And just like that, he burst into tears, covering his face with his hands.

"Oh, see?" Beth asked, throwing me a frown. "You've upset him!" She put her hand on his shoulder and patted it, leaning toward him in a gesture of care. "There, there. They don't really mean it. They just… well, they got a lot of anger inside, you know?"

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Uhhhhhh…" Even Sam was confused by that statement.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, and I meant _everything._ Not just the angel thing, and the killing, and the crying. I meant _what the hell was going on here?_

"Um... look. We didn't mean to, um...hurt your feelings," Cas said, moving up to Cupid and Beth. Cupid instantly stopped crying and embraced Cas in another bear hug.

"Love is more than just a word to me, you know. I love love. I love it! And if that's wrong, I don't want to be right!" Cupid said.

Beth nodded enthusiastically. "That's right!"

"Yes, yes. Of course. I, uh...I have no idea what you're saying," Cas said, and I thought I heard him breath a sigh of relief as Cupid let him go and started to gesture with his hands.

"I was just on my appointed rounds. Whatever my targets do after that that's nothing to do with me. I... I was following my orders. Please brother. Read my mind. Read my mind, you'll see."

He was standing in front of Cas, waiting. The latter stared into the Cupid's eyes, concentrating. We all waited for a breathless moment as Cas fell silent, and then after a moment stepped back, shrugging at me and Sam.

"He's telling the truth," Cas announced.

"Jiminy Christmas. Thank you," Cupid smiled.

"Wait, wait," I said, taking a step closer. "You said...you said you were just following orders?"

"Mm-hmmm," Cupid nodded.

"Whose orders?"

"Whose?" Cupid laughed, shaking his head at me. "Heaven, silly. Heaven."

I frowned, crossing my arms. None of this was making much sense. "Why does Heaven care if Harry meets Sally?" I asked.

"Oh, mostly they don't. You know, certain bloodlines, certain destinies. Oh, like yours," Cupid said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, the union of John and Mary Winchester. Very big deal upstairs, top priority arrangement. Mm." Cupid said. This was just getting weirder and weirder. I mean it was bad enough that a few years back in Lawrence we'd had some psychic telling us that soulmates were real, and I was meant to find Beth… and she me. Beth was convinced of it, but … divine fix ups?

"Are you saying that you fixed-up our parents?" I asked.

"Well, not me, but... yeah. Well, it wasn't easy, either. Ooh, they couldn't stand each other at first. But when we were done with them… perfect couple." The angel smiled at me, beaming from ear to ear. I wasn't having any of it.

"Perfect?" I asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"They're dead!" I was seeing red. How the hell was this a perfect arrangement? Was he serious?

The cupid's smile fell from his face. "I'm sorry, but... the orders were very clear. You and Sam needed to be born. Your parents were just, uh...meant to be," he said. "A match made in Heaven, Heaven!" I didn't even think about it. I just swung, and landed a punch straight in on his nose.

"Dean!" Beth yelled.

"Son of a bitch!" I cursed at my bruised hand - I hadn't even made a dent! Then the angel disappeared right in front of my eyes. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

"I believe you upset him," Cas said in his infuriating monotone.

"Well, can you blame him?" Beth asked, throwing her hands up in the air and shaking her head.

"Upset him?!" I spat out.

"Dean. Enough!" Sam ordered from beside me.

"What?"

"You just punched a Cupid!" Sam replied, the reproach evident in his tone.

"I punched a dick!"

"He has feelings you know!" Beth sided with Sam, although the latter was clearly just as worried as I was about our very own June Cleaver.

"Um...Are we gonna talk about what's been up with you two lately or not?" Sam asked, looking from Beth to me. I realised then that he was right, something _was_ going on with us. But I didn't want to look at what that might be. I was feeling… angry. Empty. Lost and confused.

"Or not," I replied.

"Oh something is going on with him, I'm worried," Beth said as I turned and walked toward the door back into the main part of the restaurant.

"And you…" Sam countered.

"Me?!" Beth scoffed. I rolled my eyes and stopped, looking back at her.

"Really?" I asked.

"What?" Beth asked. "I'm fine! You're the one who just punched a Cupid! I mean, that is not...well it's not very nice. And you could have broken your hand!"

"Broken my… what the hell?" I asked, flabbergasted. "Since when do I…? You know what? I am not going to do this. Let's go! We got a case to work." With that I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room.

* * *

 _ **Next morning**_  
 _ **St. James Medical Centre**_

 **Sam's POV**

Dean and Beth were driving me insane. What the hell was going on with them? I was anxious enough without having to deal with their antics. _Something_ was definitely going on here. Like, _something bad,_ and I had to get to the bottom of it.

I had gotten a call from Dr Corman at the medical centre this morning. Dean and Beth had been curled up in bed watching their stupid Spanish soap opera. (How they knew what was going on with that show was beyond me.) When I'd asked them if they were going to get up and help out, Dean had shrugged and decided that he wanted a day in bed. Beth had been worried about him, and gone to take his temperature.

I used the phone call as an opportunity to escape the madness.

Corman met me by the entrance to the morgue and nodded as I walked through the doors. "You said you wanted to hear about any other weird ones."

"Okay," I nodded. He turned and walked to a gurney, and then gestured to the corpse on top of it. It was a middle aged man, and his stomach was disgustingly distended.

"Lester Finch," Corman said, handing me a file. "Pulled his records. Looks like this gentleman used to weigh 400 pounds or so, till he got a gastric bypass, which brought down his weight considerably. But then for some reason, last night, he decided to go on a twinkie binge."

"Damn…" A voice sounded from behind me. I turned to see that I'd been followed from the motel.

"Beth? What are you doing here?" I asked, seeing her in the doorway, suit and all.

Beth shrugged and smiled at me. "Well I'm looking out for you…" she glanced at Corman, "... partner. You know, we're FBI partners."

"Right," Corman said with a shrug.

"Right."

"Right," I said with another frown, turning back to Corman. "So, he died from a twinkie binge?" I asked skeptically.

"Well, after he blew out the band around his stomach, he filled it up till it burst. When he could no longer swallow, he started jamming the cakes down his gullet with a...with a toilet brush, like he was ramrodding a cannon." The way he said it, was so matter-of-fact that I almost didn't understand the full impact of what he'd just told me. Beth on the other hand was apparently fully visualising the scene.

"Ew!" She exclaimed, her face twisting in disgust.

"So, what do you make of it?" I asked the doctor as he pulled a hip flask out of the pocket of his white lab coat.

He shrugged. "I'd say that it was a very peculiar thing to do…" he replied, twisting the top off a flask and taking a sip of the alcohol inside. Clearly the good doctor was rattled by this one. I couldn't say that I blamed him.

* * *

 **Beth's POV**

Sam was frowning at me, I didn't like it.

"When I left you, the pair of you were settled into bed with the world's worst Spanish love story playing," he said.

"And then you left," I said, looking pointedly at him.

"So you just… got out of bed?"

I stopped walking down the steps and looked at him.

"Well, there's a job to be done. We work hard, play hard, you know that," I said. "Besides, someone needed to make sure you were okay, you've been gone a while."

Sam stared at me, his mouth hanging a little open.

"I've barely been gone an hour!"

"Anything could happen in that time Sammy!"

He spluttered, and shook his head at me, opened his mouth and then closed it again, as if lost for words. I smiled, and stepped in to give him a hug.

"I know you're all grown up now Sam, but you've been through a lot. You just gotta know, I'm here for you, okay?" I asked, and I squeezed him tight. Poor Sam, he'd had such a hard time of things lately, what with letting Lucifer out into the world and all, and it had been partially my fault that had happened - if I'd been watching over him more, like I should have been, I could have stopped it.

"Uhh… okay," Sam said, giving me a quick hug and then standing there with his hands by his side. "So…"

My phone started ringing and I let go of Sam so that I could answer it.

"Hi," I said, seeing that it was Dean. "How did you go?"

When I'd expressed concern over Sam, and gotten ready to follow him, Dean had begrudgingly decided to join me. On the way here, he'd had a change of heart, and dropped me off before heading to the police station.

" _I found something. Is Sam with you?"_ Dean asked.

"Yeah, hang on," I said, taking a moment to switch the phone to speaker. "He's right here."

" _You first, what did you find out?" Dean asked._

"Hey," Sam said. "So, uh, this guy was not marked by Cupid, but his death is definitely suspicious." We'd taken the time to look at the organs… and found no Enochian, but that didn't preclude the death from the weird basket.

"Like, suuuuper weird," I added to Sam's statement. "Who the hell eats themself to death?"

" _Yeah, well, I just went through the police blotter, and counting him, that's eight suicides since Wednesday and 19 ODs... That's way out of the seasonal batting average."_ Dean said.

"Yeah, if there's a pattern here, it ain't just love. It's a hell of a lot bigger than we thought," Sam said. He reached a hand up to rub at his temples, and I was instantly alert.

" _Yeah, all right,"_ Dean said. " _You need me to pick you up?"_

We weren't actually far, but the way Sam was looking I wasn't sure he could walk it.

"Yes," I said.

"No," Sam announced at the same time.

I looked questioningly at Sam and he shook his head, adding "no, it's out of your way, we can walk it."

" _Okay then, I'll see you in 10 back at the motel,"_ Dean said.

"Yeah, okay," Sam said, and I hung up the phone.

"Hey," I said to Sam. "What's wrong?" I gestured to my temples, mimicking the movement Sam had done earlier in rubbing his own forehead.

"Uh, nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing, Sammy," I countered, crossing my arms and looking at his sternly.

"I just got a headache that's all. Why are you here?"

"I told you. I'm keeping an eye out for you," I replied.

Sam threw his arms out and looked toward the sky. "You… you know you don't…" But whatever he was about to say came to a dead halt. Sam paused, as if he'd heard something I hadn't, and then looked to his left.

I followed his gaze and saw a bald man in a suit, walking across the street away from the medical centre. He looked familiar, and I realised that I'd seen him before at the morgue, and he'd been holding a briefcase then, just like he was now. Sam started to hurry after him, and I was left with no other choice than to follow him.

The man turned into an alley and Sam started to sprint. All I could hear was the sound of harried footsteps, starting to turn panicked as the man realised that Sam was on to him. He stumbled, and Sam slammed into him, pushing him up against the wall. Within a moment, Sam had pulled Ruby's knife out of his jacket - a surprise addition to the equation - and pushed it up against the man's throat.

"I know what you are dammit," Sam hissed.

My eyes widened, there was only one real option. "Demon!" I said.

"Aaah!" The man cried out as Sam cut a small knick into his neck.

"I could smell you," Sam said, his face pressed almost into the demon's.

"Winchester," the man snarled back.

With a burst of energy, the demon lashed out, pushing Sam away from him and into me. I stepped to the side, avoiding the impact at the last moment as Sam went staggering backwards. The demon lunged forward and I lashed out with a right hook, hitting him in the face. It felt like I was hitting a brick wall, but I didn't back down.

The demon spun to attack me, throwing himself forward with a couple of punches and then a round kick which I blocked with my forearms, pushing him back. Sam recovered and stepped into the frey, slashing with the knife and knicked the demon's arm this time.

"Aah!" The demon dropped the briefcase he was carrying, and looked from Sam to me. He was outnumbered, and he knew it. Without so much a backwards glance, he took off running down the alley away from us.

"Hey!" I yelled after him. "Come back!" I started to run, but Sam grabbed my arm, shaking his head.

"Let him go," he said, breathing heavily. "Grab the case."

I wanted to argue, but then I saw the way Sam looked at the knife - like he was wanting to lick the blood off it. It caused my heart to jump into my throat.

"Here," I said, stepping up to him. "Let me get that," I added, taking the knife from him and hastily cleaning the blood from the blade with my shirt.

Sam shook himself, and looked at me with a smile before bending over to pick up the briefcase.

I was left holding a knife, and with a gut full of anxiety over how Sam had been looking at the blood from a demon.

* * *

 _ **Seven Weeks Ago  
Christmas Eve  
**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _By the time we made it up into the bedroom, Dean was more than getting up close and personal. As we hit the bed, his hands were up my top and brushing over the lace of my bra; his lips pressed into my neck where he planted kiss after kiss._

" _Dean…"_

" _Mmmm?"_

" _Hey?" I said, pulling back slightly, getting a groan of complaint._

" _What?"_

" _Remember… we have a_ visitor..." _I said, and Dean paused, his left hand half way down my pants and cupping a buttock. He turned to glance at the dark corner of the bedroom where the single bed, usually occupied by Sam, now had our surrogate nephew JJ sleeping._

" _Son of a bitch," he muttered, turning back to drop his forehead against my shoulder._

 _His hands didn't move however, as he slowed his breathing and listened for any telltale signs that we'd woken the boy. After a moment we realised that JJ was sleeping soundly, and let out a little sigh of relief._

" _Okay, so we'll just have to… improvise," he said finally. "Because sugarpie I'm not done here."_

 _I giggled and kissed his lips, feeling him pull back and start unbuttoning my jeans. With practiced ease, Dean soon had me stripped down to my underwear, and the bra was quick to follow, along with a pile of his own clothes on the floor._

 _Tucked under the blanket in our own bed, Dean's hot breath travelled along my collarbone and up my neck until I felt a little nip at my earlobe._

" _Mmmm…" I murmured, tangling my hands in his hair._

" _Mmmm," he agreed, rolling me over to my side and sliding in behind to wrap an arm around my waist, his hand cupping a breast as his legs intertwined with mine. "I swear you're made for me."_

 _That comment got my attention and I turned my head to look sideways at him. "What do you mean?"_

" _Huh?"_

 _Dean's focus was elsewhere, his lips on the back of my shoulder, hands wandering further south where he'd started to massage along my inner thigh._

" _Made for you?"_

" _Oh," he paused, his hands stopping as he kissed my neck. "You just fit, everything about you. Like… I don't know. We were meant to be."_

" _Like ...Cupid shot you with a bow and arrow?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Dean pulled his head back from where he'd been sucking on my neck and rolled his eyes at me._

" _Firstly, there's no such thing as a cupid. Secondly, that would be too damn random for my liking. No, you're something more,_ this _is more than just random dumb luck." He returned to my shoulder and I felt the graze of his teeth across my skin, sending shivers along me, but my mind was still on the conversation._

" _You really believe that?" I asked, twisting further around. Dean could see that I was losing interest in the physical and taking us into a discussion and he groaned._

" _Damn you," he said, his lips pausing in their explorations. "Okay. Yes." Rolling me on to my back, he turned my face to look at him, kissing the tip of my nose as his hand came to rest on my stomach. "Yes, I believe it."_

" _Soulmates?"_

 _Dean shrugged. "If you want to use that term, sure," he said._

" _I didn't think you believed in that," I said, reaching up to touch his face. He'd never expressed much of this before._

 _I felt fingers intertwine with mine, bringing my hand up to Dean's lips where he placed another kiss. "Well, there's too many things that've happened to just ignore it," he said finally. "Call it fate, destiny, divine intervention… I don't know know, I just know you were put in my path more than once. And every time there has been something there, an attraction beyond my understanding."_

" _Yeah," I said softly._

" _So, yes," he said. "I am completely yours. We fit together. I'm incomplete without you."_

" _That… may actually be the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me," I smiled, leaning up to kiss him. Dean smiled back against my lips, and then deepened the kiss, turning it from a soft, gentle interlude to a hungry, passionate encounter. I felt the way his lips pressed to mine, his tongue seeking out mine, making me breathless with the intensity._

 _His hands buried into my hair, tightening and tugging on my scalp as he slowly, deliberately drank from me. I moaned softly, unable to do anything other than surrender to that moment._

 _When he finally pulled back, I let out a short gasp and dropped my head back to the pillow. "Wow."_

" _I haven't even started," he whispered, and his hand slipped down between my legs, teasing. "Let's see if you remember how to be quiet…"_

" _Oh god…." I groaned._

" _He aint got nothing to do with this sugarpie…."_

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Motel Room**_

 **Dean's POV**

When Sam and Beth got back to the motel, they were teeming with tension. I looked from Sam to Beth, seeing her looking at Sam warily. He walked further into the room and placed the briefcase they'd secured from the demon on a table.

Within minutes they'd filled me in on the story of how they'd encountered the same man from the hospital, and he'd been a demon.

 _A demon?_

"What the hell does a demon got to do with this, anyway?" I asked.

"Believe me, I got no idea," Sam said, turning to look at me with a sigh. He was still rattled from the fight, I assumed.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded. "I'll be all right."

The look on Beth's face told me she believed otherwise. She was fidgeting with Ruby's knife, staring down at its blade, and I had a moment to wonder just what the hell had happened out there in that alley.

"Are you sure?" I questioned. "Beth?"

She looked up at the sound of her voice, eyes wide like a startled deer. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" I asked, taking a couple of steps over to stand in front of her, looking her over. She didn't appear to be hurt in any way, but something was bothering her. When she glanced at Sam, I started to worry.

"Yeah, of course," she lied. "I'm fine." I opened my mouth to argue, but she shook her head at me, stepping around me and walking toward the table.

"Can we just see what's in the case?" She asked.

I sucked in a breath and let it all go. _Yeah, sure. Why not?_ "Okay," I agreed.

We were all standing front of the briefcase, staring down at it's unassuming black leather, and simple locks. After a moment, when neither Sam or Beth moved, I stepped a little closer and placed my thumbs on the release buttons. "Let's crack her open. What's the worst that could happen, right?"

When they didn't argue, I slid back the buttons and pushed open the lid, holding my breath.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed, and I shielded my face as a bright light shot out of the briefcase and then disappeared through the ceiling.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"It's a human soul," said Cas, and we spun around to see him standing at the other end of the room, holding a half eaten hamburger in a wrapper. "It's starting to make sense," he announced, taking a big bite out of the burger and chewing loudly.

"Now, what about that makes sense?" Sam asked.

"And when did you start eating?" I asked. I mean, let's be honest, I like to eat and I'd never, ever seen Cas with the need to chow down on food.

"Exactly," Cas said, pointing at me. "My hunger... it's a clue, actually."

"For what?" All three of us said it at once, and I flashed a grin at Beth, whispering, " _jinx."_

Beth grinned back at me, but then turned her attention back to Cas who continue to chew the mouthful of food he was eating and started walking toward us.

"This town is not suffering from some love-gone-wrong effect. It's suffering from hunger," he said. "Starvation, to be exact… specifically...famine."

"Famine?" Beth asked, a brow creasing that pretty face of hers.

"As… as in the horseman?" Sam added.

Cas nodded, taking another bite of his burger and chewing without speaking. I felt my stomach sink at the thought. We'd barely gotten out of the last encounter with a horseman, and now we were smack in the middle of another one?

"Great," I muttered. "Th- th-that's freaking great."

"I thought famine meant starvation, like as in, you know, food," Sam said, gesturing to the nearly finished burger in Cas' hand.

"Yes," Cas agreed. "Absolutely. But not just food. I mean, everyone seems to be starving for something… sex, attention, drugs, love…"

"Oh, well that would explain why our puppy-lovers that Cupid shot went… overboard," Beth said with a nod.

"Right," Cas said with a nod. "The cherub made them crave love, and then Famine came, and made them rabid for it." He took another bite from his burger, as if unable to stop himself.

"Okay, but what about you?" I asked. "I mean, since when do angels secretly hunger for White Castle?"

Cas shrugged and looked at the burger in his hand. "It's my vessel... Jimmy. His, uh, appetite for red meat has been touched by Famine's effect." As if to demonstrate, Cas took _yet another_ bite from that burger, he was completely unable to control it.

"So, Famine just rolls into town and everybody goes crazy?" The very thought of it made sense, but I didn't have to like it.

Cas swallowed his mouthful of food and started to recite a Biblical passage. "And then will come Famine riding on a black steed. He will ride into the land of plenty... "

"... and great will be the Horseman's hunger, for he is hunger. His hunger will seep out and poison the air," Beth finished softly. I shivered at the thought.

"Well that's just great," I muttered, looking at Beth. There had been something off about her, and I started thinking about all the things she'd been doing in the last few days. The nurturing, the whole June Cleaver behaviour. Beth had always been a bit protective over Sam, and me, but she'd never _mothered_ us like that.

I frowned, thinking about how much we'd lost in the last few years. Our own baby, and then recently we'd spent Christmas Eve with JJ, doing all those fun family things that we hadn't been able to do with our own kid. And then she'd insisted we go down to Lisa's so that I could spend Christmas Day with Ben.

Sam had said she'd been fussing over him so much it reminded him of when she'd first joined us, and started to take on the same kind of protective role over him that I had.

 _It was starting to make sense,_ and my heart started to beat a little faster, thinking about the level of _pain_ she must be in right now.

"So, what does Famine want with us? Why the hunger?" I asked, slipping my arm casually around Beth's waist. I felt her step closer to me, and pulled her tight, resisting the urge to just give her a big hug right then and there.

"Famine is hungry. He must devour the souls of his victims," Cas replied.

"So, that's what was in the briefcase...the twinkie dude's soul?" I asked.

"Lucifer has sent his demons to care for Famine, to feed him, make certain he'll be ready," Cas confirmed with a short nod.

"Ready for what?" Sam asked.

"To March across the land," was the reply.

* * *

 _ **Beth's POV**_

Dean's arm around me had been a comfort. Now that I knew what we were dealing with, my mind was racing. I was trying to think about what we could all be suffering from. It was clear as day to me that Sam was struggling with his addiction to demon blood. The way he'd looked at the blade, the dripping blood from that demon. I was trying to think of a different explanation but there wasn't one.

At the same time I didn't want to say anything, because if I did, he was going to get into trouble, and I had to protect him. But if I didn't say anything, was that really protecting him? I was at war with myself.

Sam was in the bathroom, the door open, and I could hear him running water from the basin. I took the moment to change out of my FBI suit, wriggling into some jeans, and pulling on a blue shirt.

"So," Sam spoke. "this whole town is just gonna eat, drink, and screw itself to death?" He walked to the door, holding a wet cloth to his neck. He looked sick and I felt my stomach churn just looking at him.

"Yes," Cas replied from the bed he'd taken a seat on, his mouth full of food. "We should stop it."

"Absolutely," I agreed, feeling my heart start to beat a little faster.

"Yeah, that's a great idea. How?" Dean asked.

"How did you stop the last horseman you met?" Cas asked. He hadn't been with us. We'd taken on War by ourselves, and ….

"We cut off his ring, War got his power from it," I replied. Dean nodded and walked to his jacket which was hanging on the wardrobe. He reached into an inner pocket and pulled out the ring to show Cas.

"And after we cut it off, he just tucked tail and ran. And everybody that was affected, it was like they woke up out of a dream," Dean continued. "You think Famine's got a class ring, too?"

"I know he does," Cas nodded, looking a little green around the gills.

"Well, okay," Dean said. "L-let's track him down and get to chopping."

"Yeah," Cas said, eyeing off his food bag sadly. Clearly he had no more burgers.

"What are you?" Dean asked. "The Hamburgler?"

"I've developed a taste for ground beef," Cas said.

Their words were like background noise on a TV as I followed Sam and stood in the doorway to the bathroom, watching him fight with himself, his breathing irregular and short.

"Well, have you even tried to stop it?" Dean asked.

"I'm an angel. I can stop anytime I want," Cas replied obstinately.

"Whatever," Dean muttered. "Sam, Beth, let's roll."

"No," I said, looking into Sam's eyes as he turned around. He was conflicted, and all I could see was the little thirteen year old boy who needed a haircut, the same one I'd promised John to love and protect, just like Dean.

"What?" Dean asked.

"We can't," I said. "Can we?" This was directed at Sam who shook his head at me, a look of frustration entering his eyes.

"Dean...I, um...I can't. I can't go," Sam said, looking up and over my shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, his voice was short and sounded like he was about to lose his temper.

"The blood…" I whispered to Sam, and he nodded at me.

"I think it got to me, Dean. I think I'm hungry for it…"

"Hungry for what?" Dean asked, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"You know," Sam said, his eyes turning sad.

"He's hungry for demon blood," I said, twisting to look at Dean and seeing his eyes widen just a bit.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me," Dean said, glancing sideways at Cas. "You got to get him out of here. You got to beam him to, like, Florida. Anywhere but here."

"It won't work. He's already infected. The hunger is just gonna travel with him," Cas said.

"Well, then, what do we do?" Dean asked.

"You go cut that bastard's finger off," Sam replied.

"Right," I agreed. Dean could deal with it, he and Cas had it in the bag. I would stay here and…

"You heard him. Let's go Beth," Dean said. He moved to the bed where I'd put Ruby's knife earlier, picking it up and turning to face me.

"Me?" I asked, frowning.

Dean stopped, exasperation showing on his face. "Yeah you. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, well… shouldn't I stay here and look after Sam?" I pointed out. I mean, it was clear as day what the priority was here.

"What?!" Dean asked.

"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "No, that's not necessary."

"It _is necessary,_ Sammy, I can't leave you here alone," I said, turning to look at him. Sam smiled, reaching out to put a hand against my cheek and shook his head.

"You gotta fight it Beth, it's just… it's just a need to go back to when things were simpler. I see it now. You can fight it, you're stronger than me," he said.

"No…" I whispered.

"You go with Dean, he needs you. But, guys…" This time he looked up at Dean, sharing a silent moment with his brother. "Before you go, you better...you better lock me down - but good."

In no time Dean had Sam cuffed to the pipe under the bathroom sink. We tested it, Sam pulling as hard as he could on it, and it didn't budge. He wasn't going anywhere in the near future.

"All right, well, just hang in there. We'll be back as soon as we can," Dean said.

"Be careful. And... hurry," Sam said.

Dean pushed me out of the bathroom, and Cas shut the door, blocking it with the dresser that was in the room. If Sam somehow managed to get free of the cuffs, then he would have to contend with that too.

"I don't like this idea," I said, feeling my heart start to race at the idea of leaving Sam there.

"Believe me, no one likes this idea, but we're out of options," Dean said.

"I can't…" I said. The very thought of leaving the room had me in a panic. I was starting to feel the shortness of my own breath. He glanced at Cas and then pulled me aside, dropping his voice.

"Beth…"

"I can't Dean!"

He frowned, taking me by the shoulders. They felt comforting, but it wasn't enough.

"I can't move," I whispered. "I can't leave him."

"Hey, I know something is going on with you," he said. "And we _will_ talk about it soon, I promise. But, I need you on this, I need your head in the game. Are you with me?" He pulled back to look into my eyes. I thought I might drown in the concern I saw mirrored there, the deep swirling green that was like looking into my very own soul.

I pushed the fear that was sitting on my chest deep down and shoved it into the pit of things I didn't ever look at. I could do this.

"Sam is gonna be okay," Dean said, looking at me. "I need you now."

"I'm always with you," I said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "You always come first Dean, _always."_

He looked conflicted at that, and I felt myself responding, reaching out to hold his hips. Feeling myself torn between the two of them. Sam was our responsibility, but Dean was right. We had to do our job, and part of that job meant leaving Sam here where he was safer than he'd been if we went up against Famine while he was with us.

"I'm okay."

"Yeah?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," I swallowed. "I'm with you."

* * *

 _ **St. James Medical Centre**_

 **Dean's POV**

I was feeling pulled in every direction, but at the same time there was only one place I was headed. Straight toward that horseman. I rounded the corner of the medical centre toward the morgue, recognising the young fellow at the desk.

"Hey, Marty. Is Dr. Corman around?"

"You haven't heard?" He asked me, a slight frown coming to his forehead.

"Heard what?" I asked, feeling Beth come to a standstill behind me, listening and watching.

Marty gestured for us to follow, leading us into the morgue where he pulled back a sheet that was covering Dr Corman's dead body.

"Guy's been dry for the last 20 years, but this morning, he left work, went home, and drank himself to death," Marty replied. I recalled the flask he'd been drinking from and grimaced. I had not seen that one coming.

"It's Famine," Cas said from the other side of me.

"Pardon?" Marty asked, looking at the angel. I scowled at Cas's inability to be discreet, and pulled him aside, smiling at Marty.

"Would you give us a minute, please?"

Marty shrugged. "Sure." He turned and left the room, while I walked around the gurney, looking at Dr Corman.

"Crap! I really kind of liked this guy," I said, feeling sad. It seemed like we were losing too many good people lately. I thought about Ellen and Jo for a moment, and then sucked in a breath, pushing that deep down inside where I could bury it under all the other pain and loss, and not look at it.

"He was so sweet," Beth agreed with a nod, patting my arm comfortingly. I smiled at her, because she was the one ray of sunshine out there. I just wanted to make everything better for her, and I was being reminded that we were far from getting to that place of "good".

Cas put his hand on the Doctor's chest, and paused for a moment.

"They haven't harvested his soul yet," he said. I turned my attention back to the job at hand, planning and trying to stay one step ahead of what had to come next, pushing everything else out of my mind, just like Dad had trained us.

"Well, if we want to play 'follow the soul' to get to Famine, our best shot starts with the doc, here," I said.

* * *

 _ **Short Time Later**_

We were in the Impala, staking out the medical centre. From what Sam and Beth had seen earlier, the demon would come out the front, with a briefcase. Cas appeared in the back seat without notice, and I looked back to see him holding a bag of burgers.

"Are you serious?" I asked, stunned at the amount of food the angel was putting away. Cas unwrapped one of the burgers from the bag, closing his eyes and taking a long sniff of the meat.

"These make me...very happy," Cas announced, taking a bite and chowing down.

"How many is that?" I asked.

"I lost count. It's in the low hundreds," Cas replied. I whistled, shaking my head.

"That… is really unhealthy, even for us, Cas," Beth pointed out. "You really need to… I don't know… eat a salad or something."

"I'm fine," Cas said. "I'm an angel, burgers are not going to be what kills me. What I don't understand is...where is your hunger, Dean?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Well, slowly but surely, everyone in this town is falling prey to Famine, but so far, you seem unaffected," he said, taking another bite and chewing as he watched me with bright blue expectant eyes.

"Hey, when I want to drink, I drink. When I want sex, we uh… well we have it. Same goes for a sandwich or a fight," I said with a shrug, looking over at Beth. She nodded in agreement. I thought about how much I'd denied my desires for Beth when we were younger - and how that would be playing havoc with me if we'd come across Famine back then. But now? I was pretty much the definition of instant gratification these days, especially when it came to Beth and being able to act on my feelings for her.

"So...you're saying you're just well-adjusted?" Cas asked.

"God, no," I snorted. "I'm just well-fed."

"That's true. He is," Beth agreed. I was fully aware of that with the dull ache in my body from our double session the other day. Not that I was complaining, but there were days when we probably pushed our limits with sex, still it was nice when it happened.

"And what are you hungry for Beth?" Cas asked.

"Me?" Beth asked. Cas nodded.

"Nothing," she said. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, no, you're not," I said. I wasn't worried about her, I could see what was bothering her. She was reverting to early-Beth, back when we were young, and we'd been charged with looking after Sam. And she was _mothering_ everyone around her. It was highlighting to me just how much she was missing, and needing that family around her. The one thing I couldn't give her right now.

"Stop saying that to me," she said, frowning. "I'm fine, I can do my job. I am here, aren't I? I am doing what Dad wanted us to do… we're hunting monsters, killing them, this is us."

I opened my mouth to argue, but the vulnerability was so evident in her chocolate brown eyes that I faltered, simply nodding after a moment.

"Yeah," I said, licking my lips. "The family business."

Beth nodded.

Only things had changed, hadn't they? Dad was dead. Sam had unleashed Hell on Earth. I was wanted by Heaven to set things right. And some archangel had prophecied that our child was important.

Be damned if I wanted to bring a child into the world who was just going to be wanted by Heaven, like me. But could I deprive Beth of that? Could I take that away from either of us?

I looked out the windshield, staring into the darkness. I had no answers for that.

* * *

 _ **Seven Weeks Ago  
**_ **Christmas Day**  
 _ **Cicero, Indiana**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _Ben and Dean were in the backyard, playing with Nerf guns as they chased each other around an obstacle course that they'd set up with Sam months earlier._

 _I stood at the back sliding door and watched them from inside the kitchen, a mug of hot chocolate cradled in my hands. Ben let out a short laugh and sprinted out from behind a couple of tyres to where Dean was hiding next to the garden shed. He somersaulted to the ground as Dean spun to attack, and nerf bullets narrowly missed the boy's head. With a triumphant cry, Ben turned his gun on Dean and shot, hitting him squarely in the chest._

 _I smiled at the little victory._

" _Oh Dean won't be liking that," Lisa chuckled, coming to stand beside me._

" _I can't believe he missed," I said, shaking my head. "That's not like Dean."_

 _It was a big miss for the hunter, and showed that perhaps we'd gotten a little sloppy recently with our training. I found my thoughts returning to the days before Sam had left for college, and the rigorous training John and Bobby had put us all through as teens. They'd been preparing us for this very moment, when we'd be on our own in the world, facing all kinds of monsters and challenges, and they'd prepared us well._

 _Too well, perhaps._

" _Can't win all the time," Lisa said with a smiled, patting me on the shoulder before turning back to the kitchen._

" _No, you're right," I said quietly, turning my back on the boys who continued to play outside._

" _Speaking of…" Lisa said hesitantly, glancing over at me. "How are you?"_

" _Me?"_

" _Yeah," she nodded, moving behind the island bench and picking up a mixing bowl from the counter, watching me as she simultaneously spooned the casserole mix she was holding into a dish. "You don't really talk about how life is … well, treating you, I guess."_

 _I shrugged, letting out a silent breath. What was there to say?_

" _Yeah, see, that right there. You guys, you live this …_ crazy life. _And I admit I don't really want to know what you're up to most of the time. I know it's rough. But seriously, Beth, I see how you are with Ben, I see how you care about him, and that you encourage Dean to build that relationship with him."_

 _I frowned, taking a sip of the hot chocolate I was holding._

" _I don't see your point, Lisa. Of course I'm going to, Ben is family, he deserves this - they both do."_

" _Yeah," Lisa said, turning and sliding the dish into the hot oven before closing the door. "But what about you?"_

" _Me?"_

" _Wow, you are as selfless as Dean says you are," Lisa smiled, shaking her head. "Okay, I'll be blunt. You guys_ lost a baby, _years ago. You clearly love kids, both of you, yet you haven't tried again, have you?"_

 _I shook my head at her. It'd been a rough few years. First Dean had gone to Hell, and then there'd been Lucifer to deal with - we were still dealing with it. When we'd stopped and moved to Minnesota we'd talked about a family, we always talked about it. But when it came to planning… things just got in the way._

" _There just hasn't been a good time," I said after a moment._

 _Lisa laughed, and glanced out the door at Ben. "Beth, stop trying to plan it, just… I don't know, do it. There's_ never _a good time to have a baby. You adapt."_

" _Maybe," I said._

" _The world is not going to end just because you stop and start a family," she said, pouring herself a coffee. "Maybe it's exactly what you guys need."_

 _I looked down at my mug, and the murky chocolate liquid inside it. It looked how I felt._

 _We'd just lost Ellen and Jo, Sam was in and out of the family unit, with us one moment, and gone the next. Dean was still blaming himself for their loss, second-guessing himself on what we could have done differently, how we could have pulled it off. Or if we should have avoided walking into such an obvious (after the fact) trap._

" _Maybe," I said again, looking up at Lisa. "But it's_ really _not the right time."_

 _Her look clearly disagreed with me, but she must have heard the finality in my tone because she dropped the subject. All I could think about was how much simpler life was twelve years ago, when John was in charge and all we had to do was follow orders, keep Sam safe._

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Montana**_

 **Beth's POV**

"Look, there," Cas said suddenly from the backseat.

We all saw it at the same time. A man in a black suit coming out of the hospital, carrying a briefcase. He got in a black SUV, and slowly drove off. Dean eased the Impala into gear and started to follow him.

I felt my heart start to pound in my chest as we wove through the streets, keeping our distance so that the demon wouldn't suspect he was being followed.

Before long we were arriving on the outskirts of town and a Biggerson's Restaurant which looked shut down, but for the suspiciously dressed buisinessmen hanging around the outside. Dean put the car in park and sighed.

"Demons," he said. I nodded my agreement.

In the back, Cas was biting into another hamburger and I shot a concerned look at Dean.

"Okay, so when we get there, what exactly is the plan?" I asked.

Dean looked in the rearview at Cas and shook his head. "Hey, happy meal," he said, and I had to hide a smile at the veiled comment. "What's the plan?"

Cas swallowed and looked from Dean to me, holding his angel blade up in the air. "I go in, I cut off the ring hand of Famine, and I meet you back here in the parking lot."

"Well that sounds foolproof," Dean said sarcastically. I was about to agree with him but Cas had already disappeared. "Oh great," Dean added.

"This is a bad idea," I concurred.

"This is the worst idea we've possibly ever had," Dean agreed. "Maybe we should have brought Sam too."

"No, that's a worse plan. We need to keep him safe, not walk him into the equivalent of a... a damn opium den," I argued.

"Yeah, maybe," Dean muttered, under his breath. "But at least we'd have three of us… this, well, Cas is taking too long, something's wrong." He grabbed the shotgun lying on the seat between us and got out of the car. I quickly followed, racing around to put my hands against his chest.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"I can't let you go in there," I said, shaking my head. My hands were shaking, my legs felt like they were going to give at the knees, and I felt sick to my stomach.

"What?!"

"I can't…" I whispered. "It's not safe. I can't protect you."

"Beth, we've been in worse…"

"No we haven't!" I snapped, shaking my head. "No, not like this. Not… with so much to lose."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked, frowning at me.

I stopped short. "You," I said after a moment. "I could really, _really_ lose you Dean." I moved up and wrapped my arms tightly around him, feeling his chest rise as he sucked in a breath and seemed to count to ten. His arms encircled me, holding me firm as he took another couple of breaths before speaking.

"Beth," he said finally. "It's just Famine. He's playing on our fears and insecurities, on what we need and want most." He looked down at me, lifting my chin so that he could meet my gaze. "I'm not going anywhere. We are going to get that long life together - the type where people joke about how we can stand to be around each other. I promise. But … we're not getting it if we don't get in there and cut off that bastard's ring."

I nodded, he was right, of course he was. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to move.

"I ...I can't…"

"Yes you can," he said, stepping away from me and grabbing the tops of my arms. "Now _snap out of it!"_ His raised voice shocked me, I hadn't heard it in a long time, not since my Dad had died.

"Do you hear me?" Dean asked, frowning.

Dumbly I nodded.

"Good, we move, _now,_ head down, focus, and don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Okay," I said with a dry mouth. I centred on the pain I'd felt when my Dad had been killed. I took all that fear and unknowing that had paralysed me then and I shoved it deep. I buried it beneath all the other doubts and I added the fear of losing Dean to it too. I felt a calm wash over me, all emotion pushed behind the facade. The mask.

My breathing stilled with the certainty in his voice. It was like listening to John give the orders. For a moment I felt like we weren't barrelling down a highway toward our doom, and we were going to pull through this like we always did.

I saw Dean doing the same, and I took a step toward the diner.

"Are you good?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," I said curtly. "Let's do this."

* * *

 **Dean's POV**

Having to yell at Beth was doing my head in. Yet I had to keep us moving. We couldn't fail at this, we couldn't fall behind. If we didn't get to Famine before the night was through, there was no telling what might happen. We were already one man down, I couldn't afford to lose Beth.

We were walking into a trap, that much was obvious. I handed her Ruby's knife. "They'll be expecting me to come in the back, so let me distract them, then you can follow." It was risky, but it was the best chance we had in this siege-like situation.

"Okay." She hefted the knife in her hand, looking down at it. I waited for a moment, seeing her slip into the past where she was a fifteen year old girl holding a bloody knife after having killed her father. She sucked in a breath, pushing it down.

"Oh god…"

"Can you do this?" I asked. I was sickly worried that she'd panic in that restaurant, that Famine would get too much.

As her eyes met mine I saw the fierce determination that I'd fallen in love with in her expression. "Yeah."

"Okay, be careful," I said, glancing at the back door where I would be entering. "Don't get dead."

She smiled, shaking her shoulders out. "You too."

I couldn't kiss her. I couldn't do anything other than start walking. If I did anything else it would be too much like goodbye. This wasn't goodbye.

I made my way around the back of the restaurant, finding the entrance to the kitchen. It was unlocked, they clearly weren't afraid of unannounced visitors. The restaurant was dark as I stepped boldly into the interior, cocking the gun.

Nothing.

I moved quietly around a wall, and found a man with his upper body buried in a vat of oil, the hot liquid still bubbling around him. The stench of cooking meat was almost unbearable and I grimaced, stepping quickly past him. Nothing I could do for this guy.

As I came to the service window, I could see into the rest of the restaurant. Bodies littered the booths, flies buzzing around them. Then I saw Cas on his knees.

"Cas!" I whispered through the opening toward him. "Cas!" He turned, a mouthful of raw meat in falling from his lips as hands grabbed me either side. I fought, slamming the butt of the shotgun into one demon's face, and then punching the other. But it was shortlived - they had me. I was walked by two demons straight into Famine's lair.

In front of me was an old man, he looked at least a hundred, with wrinkled and flaccid skin hanging off his bones as if he'd been starved for years. Big black eyes stared back at me over a long, pointed nose that had an oxygen tube clipped to it. He was small, and looked weak, but I was no fool - I knew he was stronger than he looked, he had to be.

"The other Mr. Winchester," Famine announced, straightening slightly in the wheelchair he was sitting in.

I threw my arm out, gesturing to Cas. "What did you do to him?" Cas ignored the question and continued to eat from the pile of raw meat on the floor.

"You sicced your dog on me. I just threw him a steak," the horseman replied.

"So this is your big trick? Huh? Making people cuckoo for cocoa puffs?" I asked, turning back to him.

"Doesn't take much…" Famine said with a shrug, "...hardly a push. Oh, America. All-you-can-eat, all the time. Consume, consume. A swarm of locusts in stretch pants. And yet, you're all still starving because... hunger doesn't just come from the body, it also comes from the _soul_."

"It's funny, it doesn't seem to be coming from mine," I pointed out. Beth, yes. Sam, absolutely. Me on the hand, I couldn't explain what was going on with me.

"Yes. I noticed that. Have you wondered why that is? How you could even walk in my presence?" Famine asked.

I smirked. "Well, I like to think it's because of my strength of character."

"I disagree," the man said, wheeling his electric chair over to me. He reached out and touched me with a withered hand. The demons held firm as I tried to recoil, but I couldn't. The pain as he touched me was intense, but not unbearable. I grit my teeth, groaning through it. I needed him where he was, I had to stay the course until Beth could back me up. "Yes. I see. That's one deep, dark nothing you got there, Dean. Can't fill it, can you? Not with food or drink. Not even with sex."

"Oh, you're so full of crap," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

"Get away from him!" I felt myself freeze as Beth's voice echoed through the room. I turned to see her in the open, standing at the front of the restaurant, a rage filling her face.

"No, Beth…" It was too soon.

Ignoring everything around us, she ran at Famine, brandishing the knife. A demon moved to intercept her and she shoved the knife into his stomach, his mody lighting up from the power of the blade as he fell dead to the floor. Another, and another, and she took each of them down until finally two demons tackled and disarmed her.

I was still feeling the effects of Famine's touch, weak, and I fought to get away and go to Beth, but the demons held strong.

"No… no!" I yelled, as they pulled Beth to her feet. She was sobbing, looking at her hands, and then fell down to her knees.

"She's strong, Dean. And her hunger is… fueled by her need to protect you and your brother. But she's not strong enough to withstand me. Not like you… she still has a will to live, but you…"

The horseman turned his face back toward me. "Oh, you can smirk and joke and lie to your wife and brother, lie to yourself, but not to me! I can see inside you, Dean. I can see how broken you are, how defeated. You can't win, and you know it. But you just keep fighting. Just... keep going through the motions. You're not hungry, Dean, because inside, you're already...dead."

Was he right? It had been a long year since getting out of Hell. Yet, I had Beth, I had my freedom, and we would keep fighting until the end.

"Let them go," A voice said from behind the horseman. I winced as I recognised the voice.

"Sam…" Famine said, turning his chair back toward the front of the restaurant. I looked up and saw my brother, his face stained with blood, standing in the doorway, alone.

"Sammy, no!" I called out. Two demons guarding the horseman moved to attack Sam, but Famine held up his hand before they could even get halfway to him.

"Stop! No one lays a finger on this sweet little boy." His voice was almost loving, filled with affection as he looked at my brother. "Sam, I see you got the snack I sent you."

Sam hesitated, glancing at me and then back at the horseman. "You sent?" He asked.

"Don't worry. You're not like everyone else. You'll never die from drinking too much. You're the exception that proves the rule. Just the way...Satan wanted you to be. So…" Famine lifted his hands up, gesturing to all the demons in the room, "...cut their throats. Have at them!"

"Sammy, no," I said, shaking my head.

"Please, be my guest," Famine encouraged Sam.

Sam lifted his hand up, closed his eyes, and I watched in horror as all five demons were pulled from their hosts in a huge black cloud. The demon smoke pooled on the floor of the restaurant, and I felt my chest heaving as I considered what was going to come next. Could I pull Sam back from this if he went too far? How was I going to protect him?

Then all of a sudden Sam lowered his hand and shook his head.

"No."

Behind me Famine sighed. "Well...Fine. If you don't want them...then I'll have them."

Within seconds the black smoke was pulled off the floor and devoured by the horseman, disappearing into his mouth in a bottomless feeding. Sam stepped forward, extending his hand toward Famine.

Famine smirked at Sam and his gesture. "I'm a Horseman, Sam. Your power doesn't work on me."

Sam grinned back at him. "You're right," he said. And he looked behind Famine to the same shadow I was watching, and a glint of silver in the darkness. "But it will work on them." With a single motion of his hand, Sam reached out and pulled, as if holding on to an invisible tether.

"Aaaahh!" Famine cried out as the souls were ripped from his body. Beth crawled on her hands and knees to the demon that had disarmed her, and then looked up at me through tears. I nodded, almost reading her mind, and within seconds she tossed Ruby's knife through the air to me. I moved to grab Famine's hand, but it was already too late. With a final cry Famine slumped in his chair, eyes empty and dead.

"Beth!" I called out, running to help her up. "Are you okay?"

I looked her over, seeing her nod. "Yeah, yeah… did you get the ring?" I frowned, looking back at the dead horseman, ring still in tact. Cas was getting to his feet behind him, looking disturbed, and as I spun around, I could ee Sam bleeding from the nose.

"Sammy!" Beth exclaimed, running to catch him as he fell to his knees, her arm wrapping around him and under his shoulder. "Oh God… are you okay?"

The look he gave us told me that he was anything but okay. I moved to quickly cut the ring from Famine's hand, just in case.

I pocketed the ring in my jacket, and looked around us. Bodies littered the floor. I wondered if they were dead or unconscious after having the demons expelled from them. I didn't really want to wait to find out. I was more concerned about Sam.

"Come on," I said, moving toward him and Beth. "We gotta get out of here."

* * *

 _ **7 months ago  
Christmas  
Cicero, Indiana**_

 **Beth's POV**

 _It seemed that I'd spent a lot of time in bathrooms staring at mirrors lately. I found myself in the same place again, looking at the small round plastic pill box in my hands._

 _I counted out the pill for the day and hesitated._

 _What if Lisa was right? What if there was no time like now to just… try? To stop putting everything else ahead of what I wanted - what we wanted - the most?_

 _I'd already buried one child. There were no guarantees._

" _Hey Beth?" Dean called out from across the hallway where the spare room was located. "You coming?"_

 _I started, looking down again at the box, feeling a little guilty that I was even thinking about this without talking to Dean._

" _Yeah!" I called back to him. "Just a sec."_

 _I hesitated again, looking down at today's little white pill, sitting there as if it was taunting me._

 _All I had to do was take it. Or throw it in the bin._

 _A banging at the door startled me and I jumped back a step, seeing the door open and Dean stick his head around it._

" _What is taking you so long? I can't believe you let Lisa talk us into a double date," he groaned._

 _I slipped the pill box behind my back and flashed him a smile to hide my thoughts, stepping toward him and kissing him softly._

" _Oh come on, she's nervous," I said. "It won't kill you."_

" _Well, now, we don't_ know _that. I mean, this poor dude, he's about to go on a date with the three of us…_ both women _who I've slept with. Like, seriously, this is a recipe for disaster," Dean said._

 _I rolled my eyes at him and sighed. "We don't have to announce to him you're Ben's father, tonight."_

" _Huh, yeah, okay, true," he said, stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door. "I still think this is ridiculous. Why can't she go out with him on her own?"_

" _Maybe she wants our opinion on the guy?"_

" _Like I_ care _about the guy!" Dean said, slipping his hands around me. "I'd much, much,_ much _rather be here with you… on our own. And I'm sure this guy is thinking the same thing!"_

" _Yes, well, maybe Lisa would like to get to know the guy's_ personality _before he gets all handsy." I pointed out. Dean's hands tightened on my hips and he sighed._

" _Yeah, okay, fine," he muttered. "So, come on then. What are you doing in here anyway?"_

 _I bit my lip, and looked down at his chest._

" _Hey, come on, something's been up with you since yesterday," he said, lifting my chin so he could look into my eyes. "Spill."_

 _I sighed softly and shrugged, showing him the pill box. "Last few days of the cycle," I announced. "Need to go see a doctor for a new prescription."_

" _Oh," he said, frowning at the box. "Oh okay."_

 _I chewed on my lip and then popped out the pill and put it into my mouth, swallowing. "That's all," I said after a moment._

 _He took the box out of my hand and tossed it in the bin by the sink, turning to look at me._

" _Or, we don't."_

" _No?" I asked. "That's a big step."_

" _And?"_

" _And...what about Lucifer?"_

" _What about him?" Dean asked with a shrug._

" _End of world, hunting of Sam, you know… the usual," I pointed out._

" _Near as I figure it, there's always something going wrong in the world," he said. "Maybe we should make something right."_

" _Really?" I asked, surprised._

" _You think I don't see how you look at Ben and JJ?" He asked, his eyes softening. "Besides didn't you get some divine decree to have a baby?"_

 _I sucked in a breath and frowned at him. "Exactly. I don't want our baby to be some… some… plan by Heaven. I want it to be our plan, our wants. Us."_

 _Dean pulled me a little closer and kissed the tip of my nose. "And it is," he said, bringing one hand up to cup my face._

" _It just feels like completely the wrong timing…" I whispered._

" _Yeah I know," he sighed, leaning his forehead against mine. "Okay, so maybe now isn't the right time, but… you know I want you to be happy, I want_ us _to be happy. We were happy, in Minnesota, weren't we?"_

" _Yeah," I whispered, tears in my eyes._

" _Okay, so maybe not right now," he said. "But, let's figure something out soon, okay?"_

 _I nodded, savouring the feel of his face close to mine, the way his breath ghosted across my lips before I pressed mine against his mouth. With a slow, almost desperate need I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer._

 _By the time we pulled apart, the world almost felt normal again. I smiled, and blushed slightly at how turned on I became just from kissing this man._

" _Mmm," Dean murmured, looking down at his crotch and groaning slightly. "Damn you."_

 _He shifted slightly, readjusting his now half-erection inside his pants and then flashed me a grin. "You're going to pay for that tonight," he promised._

 _I laughed and reached around him to open the bathroom door, giving him a soft push out into the hallway. "Promises, promises," I teased, before looking back into the bathroom. Dean was always moving toward the stairs as I turned out the light, my gaze falling down to bin next to the vanity._

 _I quickly pulled out the pill box and looked at it one more time, before setting it back on the sink. "Not yet," I whispered. "But soon."_

* * *

 _ **Present Day  
Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
Bobby's House**_

 **Dean's POV**

We'd driven as fast as we could to Bobby's. Sam passed out on the drive there, and Beth clutched at my hand for half of it, as if scared to let go. By the time we'd arrived, Sam knew what the plan was. He didn't like it, be he also knew it had to be done. But this time, Beth was determined to do it differently.

I watched from outside the panic room, the door still open as I stood on the threshold. Inside Sam was screaming, thrashing around on the cot that we'd secured him to.

Beth was sitting beside him, a wet cloth in hand as she bathed his forehead, and held his hand.

"Let me out of here!" Sam begged. "Beth please! Help!"

"It's okay Sammy," she replied, placing the wet cloth against the side of his neck. "It's gonna be okay."

It sure didn't feel like it was going to be okay to me.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Beth, seeing her look up at me with a pained expression.

She nodded. "I'm not leaving him."

I sighed, and smiled at her. It was this dedication to Sam that I both loved and hated about her. "Okay, well, I'll be right out here."

I couldn't sit in there and watch. Not right now. Maybe later, but it was killing me inside.

"I know," Beth smiled. "We'll be okay."

Sam's body tensed again, and he started to yell from the pain rippling through him. I hesitated, not wanting to leave her in there, but then I saw her face. She wasn't moving.

"Dean!" Sam yelled. "Dean let me out of here!"

I closed the door, locking it and peered through the window at the two most important people in my life.

"That's not him in there," Cas said next to me. "Not really."

"I know," I said.

"Dean, Sam just has to get it out of his system. Then he'll be…."

"Listen," I interrupted him. "Can you watch them for bit? I just, uh…. I just need to get some air," I said. I had to get out, away from anyone talking at me. Cas nodded as I pushed away from the panic room and up the stairs, out into the scrap yard.

I wandered without thought, taking in the old twisted metal of the yard that felt like my soul right now. As I reached the end of the yard, I was drawn toward the old makeshift gym, and what I knew was lying behind it. The memorial.

It looked just as I remembered it from Christmas. The magnolia was just starting to bloom with the promise of Spring and I stepped up to the blossom, seeing yet not really taking in the beauty of that flower. I don't know how long I stood there, thinking yet not really conscious of any thoughts.

After a while I dropped to the bench under the tree, taking in a deep breath and looking at the little angel baby statue marking the burial place of our child.

Maybe Famine was right, maybe I was dead inside.

"Please…" I whispered, feeling a tear come to my eye. "I can't…" I couldn't think of Beth locked away with Sam right now, the pain she was going through, the fact that I couldn't give either of them what they really wanted: a normal life. I whispered to no one in particular. After all, who was listening?

Angels? God?

Did I really believe that?

I had always said there was nothing looking out for us, that Beth believed enough for the both of us. But the truth was, I believed in what I saw. And a part of me wanted to believe that something out there was looking out for us.

"I need some help," I finished,looking up.

"Please?"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song for this chapter is - Sky Full of Song by Florence + The Machine  
 _The lyrics don't exactly fit, but the whole melancholy feel to this song was just right with this episode._

Hello and welcome to all the new readers! Obviously this is part of an ongoing series. You're going to want to start with Book #1 - Highway to Hell if you want to read more about Dean and Beth and how they got to here.

Thank you, as always, to my continued supportive readers and your comments. I love love love to hear from you and appreciate all the feedback given via PM and reviews. I hope you enjoyed this episode as we start gearing up toward the final showdown with Lucifer!

I'm hoping to pop a bit of an appearance from Jefferson in the next one - but will see how it works out. Let me know if you want to hear more from him, I still have his Chronicles to get started on too! And maybe maybe maybe get an update done to "Where Angels Fear to Tread" too... before I get ahead of that storyline too far. (So many ideas, so little time to write!)


	17. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

_Empty spaces fill me up with hopes  
Distant faces with no place left to go  
Without you within me I can't find no rest  
Where I'm going is anybody's guess_

 _I tried to go on like I never knew you  
I'm awake but my world is half asleep  
I pray for this heart to be unbroken  
But without you all I'm going to be is incomplete_

* * *

 **DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID**

* * *

 _ **Sioux Falls, South Dakota**_

 **Beth's POV**

It seemed we'd been spending a lot of time in Sioux Falls of late. Taking refuge in the one consistent home we'd ever known, when John and Bobby had still been friends, raising four teenagers to hunt and survive in a world of darkness. Of course, the reason we were at Bobby's last visit had been darker than I would have liked.

Sam's detox did not take as long compared to previously. Together, Dean and I had held him through it, determined that we would not let our brother break this time. We had to protect him, and in unspoken agreement, we'd done just that until his body had healed from the toxic blood inside of him.

During that time, the darkness that had been plaguing me receded. I couldn't explain it, only that it had come from spending time in the past with my father. _My father_. With everything we'd been through, all we had experienced in our short lives, it seemed impossible to be sent not once, but twice into what can only be described as an episode out of _Back to the Future._

And now here we were.

Even with those explorations to the past, nothing had changed. We were still in exactly the same spot we'd have been had we never experienced our Delorian adventures, and yet something inside of me had changed.

I felt lighter.

Like a healing balm, being able to tell my father all that would befall us, even if he never remembered it thanks to Michael wiping his mind, had been a gift. Above all else, Dad and John in their actions together, had both reinforced in me what they'd both taught me later in life - family came first. No matter what.

It had only been a matter of weeks since we'd been in town, yet it felt like a lifetime.

I stared out of the window of the Impala at the houses passing by, familiar streets and surroundings from another time in our lives; places that I had explored with Dean, Sam and Cole when we were in our teens. It made me smile.

"Bobby, listen, when you get this message, call! Okay?" Sam said into the phone as Dean pulled the car up to a diner. I knew it, had shared many a burger and milkshake with my adopted siblings over the years. My mouth was practically watering from the thought of biting into their signature double beef and cheese burger.

"Is he still not home?" Dean asked, putting the car into park and cutting the engine. "How far could he get in that chair?" His eyes twinkled as he threw me a grin, laughing at his own joke. I smiled back at him and shook my head softly in amusement.

"You know we could just go around there," I said, glancing at Sam in the back seat.

"Yeah, later," Dean agreed. "I mean, we're here now, we might as well see what the story is before we all rock up. He hasn't been the happiest to be around, as you well know."

Dean was right. Ever since becoming confined to a wheelchair, Bobby's short fuse was pretty much nonexistent. It didn't take much to cause him to lose his temper, and as much as I knew he cared for us - we were a reminder of what he no longer had: the ability to pick up and hunt whenever he wanted. He was still every bit as important to us, we relied on him for everything from somewhere safe to stay, to information, to posing as our superior when we were questioned on the legitimacy of our badges. But that didn't seem to soothe his soul much.

"Okay," Sam said, glancing up at the door to the diner. "So, what do we do?"

"What we always do," I replied with a shrug, looking from him to Dean.

"Yeah…" Dean muttered. "We just do it ourselves."

It had been nearly five years since John had disappeared at the Centennial Highway. Close to four years since he'd died… leaving us alone for good. At the time I'd thought we might never recover. We were so used to following orders, taking John's lead, and now… now we did what we wanted; most of the time. It didn't mean that it was easy, old habits die hard.

Even after all that time Dean hesitated on occasion. I could see it in his eyes, the way he would look to me for reassurance when he made the call on a hunt, or anything else that might make considerable change in our lives. Sam was used to going his own way, being his own person. For Dean and I, we were still like toddlers, setting out into a big wide open world with no one to guide the way.

The look Dean shot me now spoke volumes. We were in Bobby's territory, blind luck having led us back to South Dakota after seeing an article about a zombie rising from his grave and killing another man. We'd waited for the call from Bobby. It hadn't come. That was when we'd gotten concerned.

So here we were.

Inside, the diner was almost empty. We spotted the man we were here to see almost immediately. He was in the rear booth, staring out the window. He fidgeted in his seat, feet tapping anxiously against the worn linoleum floor.

I raised my eyebrow at Dean, adjusted my blazer and then walked toward the man with a pleasant, but not overly friendly look on my face. Dean followed, hot on my heels, while Sam found himself a seat at the counter and ordered coffee.

"Mr Wells?" I asked, looking at the man questioningly. He glanced cautiously at me before nodding.

"Yeah, you the FBI?" He asked.

"That's right," I nodded.

"Mulder and Scully right?" He chuckled, leaning back in his chair to run his eyes up and down the length of my body. "Better looking than the redhead."

Beside me Dean cleared his throat and adjusted the tie around his neck. I shot him a curious look as he slipped into the booth opposite Wells. I followed, sliding in beside him only to feel him shift closer, his leg pressing against mine as he silently observed the man. I slid my hand under the table, and rested it on Dean's thigh, giving it a little squeeze.

"We're also the real deal, not some TV show," I lied effortlessly.

"Makes it even better," Wells grinned at me. He leaned on the table, gleaming through hazy eyes that looked as if he'd not slept in days. His face and neck were covered with a five o'clock shadow, and his dark shaggy hair curled around his ears and sat messily on his head, looking as if it hadn't been washed in a week. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him, leaning back in my seat.

"Mr Wells, why don't you tell us what you saw, in your own words."

"Call me Digger," he smiled at me.

"Digger?" Dean chortled beside me, breaking his silence. "Who gave you that name?"

Wells looked from me to Dean, as if seeing him for the first time, and then frowned.

"I did," he said.

"You gave yourself your own nickname? You can't do that," Dean smirked at him.

"Who died and made you queen?" Wells retorted. Dean paused, blinking once, and I could see he was frantically trying to find a comeback to the man, and was struggling to do so.

"Okay…" I cut in. "Why don't you just tell us what you saw?" Hoping that it would ease the tensions a bit.

Wells took a breath, frowning slightly and looking down at the cup of coffee in front of him.

"I saw…" he began, taking another breath. "I saw Clay Thompson climb into Benny Sutton's trailer through the window. Couple minutes later, Clay walked out, and Benny's dead."

Dean reached into his jacked and pulled out a printed photo of Clay's driver licence, unfolding it and holding it up for Wells to look at. "And, uh...Is this the guy you saw?" he asked.

Wells nodded, his mouth curling up at the side. "Well, he was all covered with mud, but, yeah. That's Clay."

Dean turned the paper around to look at the photo thoughtfully.

I glanced sideways at him, and then back at Wells. He _seemed_ sober, the hazy eyes more appearing exhaustion than intoxication. I couldn't say that I blamed him for having a few restless nights after what he'd seen. Frankly I wondered how Dean, Sam or I got any sleep at all most nights with what we'd been through.

"You are aware that Clay Thompson died five years ago?" I asked, watching his face intently for any sign that he was lying.

"Yep," Wells said honestly.

"And you're _positive_ that it was _this_ guy?" Dean asked, flashing the picture back in Wells' direction.

Wells bristled at the undertone of Dean's voice, the one that was sceptically taking in the story, but didn't really believe him. It wasn't that we didn't believe the man, but we had to test him, make sure that he wasn't just making it all up for some reason. It was the first part of the hunt - to get to the bottom of the story, you had to make sure you had a hunt to begin with.

"You calling me a liar?" Wells challenged, his eyes narrowing at Dean. He had stopped fidgeting, and was now engaging in a stare competition with my equally as immature husband, one cocky smile to another. I could see the edge Wells was sitting on, simmering just below the surface. Dean could too, no doubt, but he was pushing it. He'd been uneasy for weeks: ever since our encounter with Famine - a disquiet sitting with him that he hadn't raised with me yet, and I was becoming increasingly worried. I squeezed his leg again in warning, and flashed Wells a smile.

"Of course not," I said quickly. "Look. Can you think of any reason why Clay Thompson, alive or dead, would want to kill Benny Sutton?"

Wells started chuckling, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter as he smiled broadly at me.

"Hell, yeah," he grinned. "Well, five years ago, Benny's the one that killed Clay in the first place."

I glanced sideways at Dean, our eyes meeting for a split second. I saw the curiosity spark in those apple green orbs. He believed Wells, and I showed him through my expression that I did too. Almost immediately Dean's posture relaxed, and he broke the connection with me, leaning his elbow up on the window sill and turning to Wells, his body language opening, welcoming to the man.

"Is that a fact?" Dean asked genuinely.

"Well, yeah, so-called _hunting accident_ ," Wells replied, his voice clearly stating that he didn't believe it. "Now, if you ask me... Clay came back from the grave to get a little payback."

"Go on," Dean encouraged.

The door behind us opened, and I heard a woman enter, talking on her phone. Wells followed her with his eyes. I resisted the urge to turn and look at whoever it was that had gotten his attention, but it wasn't easy. Dean was on alert beside me, not having missed the change to Wells' demeanour.

"...put down the cupcake and pick up an apple… Okay? Okay. I love you," the woman was saying in the phone before she hung up. I watched Wells roll his eyes before he looked at me.

"Heads up," he said. "Fargo."

Footsteps faltered before heading in our direction, and I moved my hand off Dean's thigh, placing it on the table as the steps came to a halt beside us. I found myself looking up at a woman in a brown sheriff's uniform, feeling my stomach sink slightly.

"Digger," she said, looking from Wells to Dean and I.

"Sheriff," Wells replied.

The Sheriff's eyes were locked with Dean's as she turned to face us.

"Hello. I'm Sheriff Jody Mills. I don't believe we've had the pleasure." She was straight to the point, a slight smile on her face, but beneath it was a no-nonsense approach of someone who did their job, and did it well. Just the kind of sheriff to get in the way of our investigations.

Dean was already reaching into his jacket. I followed suit, feeling around for my fake ID.

"Agents Dorfman and Neidermeyer. FBI," Dean replied, flashing his badge at the Sheriff with a confident smile. I held mine up at the same time, mirroring Dean's smile, just like John had taught us: friendly, but not too friendly; confident, but not cocky; comfortable in our skin, but carrying an air of authority simultaneously.

"Welcome to Sioux Falls," she said, glancing between us, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets and taking a breath. "Can I ask you what you're doing with Digger here?"

"They're doing their job," Wells replied with a raised eyebrow, looking up into the Sheriff's brown eyes. "They believe me, Sheriff." He finished with a sly wink and the woman smirked, turning back to us.

"The FBI believes a dead man committed a murder?" She asked.

"Look, we're just asking a few questions, Sheriff. That's all," I said placatingly, beside me Dean leaned forward.

"Of course, if a dead man didn't commit the murder, then, uh, who did?" He asked.

The smile fell from the Sheriff's face, and her eyes hardened. He'd hit a nerve.

"What'd you say your jurisdiction here was again?"

"Our jurisdiction is wherever the United States government sends us," Dean challenged. We sat comfortably in our seat, faces soft – still confident, still showing our certainty that we had a right to be there. But it was clear where things were going.

"Oh, yeah?" Sheriff Mills replied. "How 'bout me and your supervisor have a little chat about that?"

I was already reaching back into my jacket, pulling out a small wallet and producing a business card from where I'd tucked it earlier.

"Absolutely," I said, handing her the card. It was routine, hold the bluff, let her call the number and deal with Bobby. Silently I prayed that Bobby was home to answer the phone, we hadn't had much luck on the mobile, maybe the emergency landlines would be different.

The Sheriff dialled the number on the card, and turned away while she waited for someone to answer .

"Agent Willis, this is Sheriff Jody Mills..." she said after a moment. I breathed a small sigh of relief, shooting a look at Dean. His mouth twitched slightly, indicating he was happy Bobby had answered too. But suddenly Mills said a name I wasn't expecting her to come out of her mouth.

"Bobby?"

I looked up in alarm, eyes meeting Dean's immediately. He tensed, eyes hardening, the only indication that something was wrong. No one else in the room would have picked it, but I did. I saw him glance behind me, no doubt to Sam, and then back again as Mills slowly turned to face us.

"Is this Bobby Singer?" She asked into the phone. Behind us Sam casually got up from the counter and left the diner.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sam, now outside and moving toward the car. I knew he'd be waiting for us, ready for a quick get away, should things get ugly.

"Bull crap," Mills said after a moment, hanging up the phone. She raised her eyebrows, looking at us both. "FBI, huh?"

"So, uh... So you know Bobby Singer?" I asked uncomfortably.

"That is... a fun coincidence," Dean said, chuckling.

"Here's what I know about Bobby Singer," Mills replied. "He's a menace around here, ass-full of drunk-and-disorderlies and mail fraud. You understanding me?" Her tone was definitely no-nonsense. I could practically _hear_ John speaking to us, talking us through this moment, as we'd practised over and over. _Don't push it when you're caught out. Be respectful. Acknowledge the play. And get out as quickly as you can._

"I think we all can agree that you've made yourself perfectly clear, yes," Dean said carefully.

"So, whatever the three of you are planning, it ends here. Now," she reached down and pushed a finger against the table to emphasize her point, looking me dead in the eyes. "Ten-four on that, _Agents_?"

"Yeah," Dean said beside me. Mills seemed happy with that response, or was at least confident she'd rattled us enough to leave, because without another word she walked out of the diner and didn't look back, leaving us with a very curious Wells on our hands.

* * *

 _ **Bobby's House**_

I couldn't remember how many times we'd pulled up to the steps of this house, tails between our legs, running from one monster or another. Running from the local sheriff, who had recognised our _FBI supervisor_ on the phone, was a new one. It just hit home that we were too close for comfort, and something was not right here.

We trudged up the stairs to the front porch and were met at the door by Bobby in his wheelchair.

"Figured you lot would show up here," he commented, turning and wheeling back into the house without any further comment. I shrugged at the boys and followed him into the library.

"You know how many times we called? Where have you been?" Dean asked, only a few steps behind me.

"Playing murderball," Bobby replied, the sarcasm practically dropping from his mouth. He stopped in the centre of the library and spun around to look at us.

"What's that smell?" Dean asked suddenly, sniffing the air. "Is that soap?"

At the question I started to notice our surroundings, first with the bookshelves: no longer dusty and stacked haphazardly with old tomes, they were clean and orderly, the books put away in what appeared to be alphabetical order. The desk by the wall was pristine, everything neatly stacked in ordered piles. I frowned as Dean continued.

"Did you clean?" He asked.

"What are you, my mother?" Bobby retorted. "Bite me!"

"Bobby, seriously," Sam said beside me, his voice concerned.

"I been working. You know, trying to find a way to stop the devil," Bobby replied. The comment was an obvious ploy to distract us, but I wasn't going to be fooled. Something was going on here - Bobby's bed, usually messed up, was made neatly under the only window in the room – a window that was free of the years of grime usually covering the glass.

"Find anything?" Dean asked, following the hook.

"What do you think?" Bobby replied with a shake of his head.

I crossed my arms and glanced toward the kitchen – the pocket doors were closed. Now that was unusual.

"Bobby, it's just… there's a case less than five miles from your house," Sam pointed out, moving to sit on the edge of the desk.

"What, the – the Benny Sutton thing? That's what this is about?" Bobby asked.

"You knew about this?" Dean asked sharply.

"Hell, yes. I checked into it already. There's nothing here," Bobby said with a shrug.

"You mean other than a witness who saw a dead guy commit murder," I pointed out, looking him over. Now that I was paying attention, Bobby seemed a lot cleaner too…. His hair slicked back neatly, no hat, and his clothes looked recently washed and pressed.

"What witness?" Bobby asked. "Digger Wells?"

"Yeah. So?" Dean asked.

"So, he's a drunk," Bobby replied. I smirked – a lot of people said that about Bobby too, and had said the same about John once too, when Mary had died.

"Well, what about the lightning storms? They look like omens," Sam pushed.

"Except in February... in South Dakota... in _storm season_." Bobby said. He shrugged. "Guys, I thought it was something, too. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

He was too casual, I decided. Playing the game, just like we did with the Sheriffs, and the police chiefs, and the detectives… anyone who got in our way. Something wasn't right here. I moved slightly behind Bobby, as if to pick up a book from the shelf nearby. I glanced at Dean, seeing him watching me, so I paused to run my finger along the top of a bookshelf, lifting it up to reveal no dust. Dean raised an eyebrow at the movement, and then his brow furrowed as he started to pay closer attention to our surroundings.

"So who killed this guy?" Sam asked, his face passive. He'd seen the movement too, and I saw his eyes flicker to the left where Bobby's bed was neatly made, but he quickly turned back to the man in the chair, keeping his attention.

"Take your pick," Bobby replied. "This Benny Sutton guy was a grade-A son of a bitch. There's a list of the living a year long wouldn't mind putting a cap in his ass.

"So, you're telling us... nothing?" Dean asked, crossing his arms.

"Sorry. Looks like you wasted a tank of gas on this one," Bobby said.

"Great," Dean muttered. His eyes locked with mine, and I inclined my head toward the closed kitchen.

"Well," Dean continued. "Least we can grab a beer, and crash here for the night."

Bobby's head shot up at the comment, and he looked at Dean as the latter started for the kitchen.

"No, uh, sorry… guys. I'm out of beer, and the place is a mess since you left," he said.

Sam stood up and looked around the room. "Looks pretty clean to me Bobby."

"Yeah well I been tidying up, but only on this floor, I can't obviously get up the stairs to do your rooms," he said, scowling.

"Bobby, we wouldn't expect you to. We're capable of cleaning our own rooms," I said, moving to stand next to Dean.

"Yeah well, it's embarrassing all right?" Bobby snapped. "Now, I got a woman coming in to help clean up around here, but she's not got to the rooms upstairs yet, okay? I'd just… I'd feel a whole lot better if y'all crashed somewhere else right now."

We'd never been turned away from the house before, and he knew it. But we had to play the game – _what would John do?_

"Uh, sure thing Bobby," I said, smiling at the boys. "I mean, you know I'd be happy to help out?"

Bobby sighed. "I know baby girl, but you guys got enough on your plate right now, I don't like askin'"

It seemed legitimate enough. I nodded, and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Okay Bobby, we'll uh, we'll leave you to it then, okay? We can stay in town until tomorrow and then head to Ohio."

"Yeah," he nodded back at me, and I detected a slight sigh of relief. He turned to look at Sam and smiled tersely. "You look good boy, how do you feel?" The question hung heavily in the air.

Sam didn't even blink, nodding back at our second father in his wheelchair. "Yeah, I feel good Bobby, thanks." There wasn't anything else to say – we all knew Bobby was talking about the detox from a few weeks back. Sam had been in rough shape when we'd gotten here, and he'd been a little shaky when we'd decided to head out again only a week ago.

"Good," Bobby said. "Well, I got things to do. You guys have a safe trip to Ohio okay?"

"Yeah," I said, keeping my smile friendly, but not too friendly. "We will. You take care of yourself Bobby."

* * *

 _ **Back on the Road**_

We were miles down the road before any of us spoke. When we finally did, it was all together.

"That _was soap..."_ Dean began.

"Did you guys see..." Sam added

"It was too clean," I agreed, nodding at them both.

"I've never seen that house without dust," Dean said, finishing it for us. "Or those doors to the kitchen closed."

"What do you think is going on?" Sam asked.

"I don't know..." Dean muttered

"But we definitely agree, _something_ is going on around here?" I asked, looking from Sam to Dean's tense face. His jaw clenched, the muscle in his cheek twitched as he stared at the blacktop ahead of us in the darkness.

"Yeah, but what?" Sam asked.

Suddenly Dean veered the car to the side, pulling on to the shoulder of the road.

"Dean?" I asked.

"What's up?" Sam added.

"Isn't that the graveyard back there?" He asked. I frowned, getting my bearings. We'd driven for a few minutes, heading back into town. There had always been a church nearby and … I nodded, smiling at him.

"St Anthony's cemetery," I confirmed. "You're right."

"Bobby already checked it out," Sam said.

"And we already agreed he's hiding something," Dean replied.

"You think he's hiding something to do with the case?" I asked, looking at Dean.

"I got no idea," he replied. "Maybe, or maybe he's just got a new love interest, but either way the man isn't infallible."

Sam chortled behind us in the back seat and I looked curiously at him. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Big word there Dean," he said, sniggering.

I grinned at the comment, seeing Dean throw his hands up in the air.

"Really?" Dean asked. "You're seriously picking on my vocabulary right now?"

"Ooooh, another big word," Sam laughed. I tried not to smile, to keep my solidarity with Dean, but it was hard; as much as he tried to play himself off as the dumb, laid-back jock, we both knew Dean was smarter than he let on – and moments like this proved it. Calling Dean out on it seemed to bring Sam as much joy as it brought me pride.

"Oh for..." Dean sighed. "Shut up – the both of you!"

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" I protested.

"Yeah yeah, you didn't have to sugarpie," he said, though his smile belied his complaints. "Come on," Dean said, turning the car around and pointing it toward the cemetery. "We'll take a peek, and if we find nothing we'll hit the road. Can't hurt."

 _ **St. Anthony's Cemetery**_

I watched my white, foggy breath crystallise on the cold night air as we started to wander around the cemetery with our flashlights. Sam veered to the left, disappearing into the tree line with a shovel in one hand, his light in the other; Dean and I stuck together, an unspoken agreement that had been our status quo since his return from Hell. We went together, or not at all. At least, that was the _plan…_ sometimes plans changed, I thought ruefully.

Dean shone his light around at the various headstones in front of us, whistling cheerfully as we walked, using a shovel as a bit of a walking stick. I shivered against the instinctual crawl up my spine that graveyards always gave me. As if sensing my discomfort, Dean threw me an apologetic smile, his whistling falling to silence.

"You think you'd be used to these places by now," he said with a little grin.

"Night time, creepy old graves, and a possible zombie on the loose. What's not to love?" I retorted with a smile of my own.

Dean winked at me and reached out, taking my hand in his. He was warm to the touch, and it was a welcome sensation against my chilled fingers. I squeezed his hand in silent gratitude for the care he always showed me, and continued to hold on to him as we moved through the graves.

"Hey guys!" Sam called out from about twenty yards away. "Over here."

We were instantly on alert, Dean dropped my hand as we moved to single file through a row of gravestones. We reached a couple of small green bushes, and on the other side overturned dirt in front of a granite headstone that belonged to Clay Thompson: the very same man accused of killing his own murderer.

"That look fresh to you?" Dean asked, looking over the scene.

"Yeah," Sam said, nodding.

"Dammit," I sighed, dropping my light down to my side. "What I wouldn't give for a dead end right now."

"Sorry sugarpie, looks like we get to dig instead," Dean said, punctuating his statement by ramming his shovel into the ground. The boys set to digging up the soft soil beneath their feet. It didn't take long, which was never a good sign, and before we knew it we were staring down at a coffin that looked like something had clawed its way out.

Sam tossed his shovel out of the hole, and leaned down to raise the mangled lid. Beneath it, our lights revealed empty satin lining.

"What is going on here?" Sam asked, frowning and standing up.

Dean shook his head, crouched by the graveside and held his flash light up. "I don't know," he said. "But something stinks."

"So…. Wells may have been right about what he saw. A man, covered in dirt, going into that trailer and killing the vic," I said.

Dean nodded, staring down at the grave. His shoulders were set, and he was taking long, deliberate breaths. Sam hauled himself out of the grave, and I took the opportunity to reach out and squeeze Dean's shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts, my expression silently asking him if he was okay.

Taking a deep breath, Dean shook his head clear and pulled himself up to full height. "I'll tell you one thing. You crawl out of a grave, you're covered in dirt…" His voice trailed off. I smiled encouragingly at him.

Following the initial shock of Dean being free of Hell, he'd started to recount his experiences shortly after – one of them being that he'd had to dig his way out of his own grave. I watched him carefully, making sure that he wasn't about to slip back into a memory that left him lost and confused, but I needn't have worried – Dean was handling his Hell memories a lot better these days.

"So, what now?" I asked, looking around. "I mean, the man has already killed once, he could be anywhere."

"Well, there haven't been any other reports of any attacks," Sam said, starting to shovel the dirt back into the grave.

I picked up the other shovel and helped him refill the hole in front of us. "Yeah, but if he's a zombie… surely it's only a matter of time before he kills again."

"Well," Dean cut in, his face a little troubled. "I know where I was headed when I got out."

I paused, straightening up to look at him.

"I came looking for you," he added, eyes meeting mine with a slightly anguished expression.

"Did Clay have a family?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he did," I replied.

* * *

 _ **Clay Thompson's House**_

We'd left Sam to finish up filling in the grave, with assurances from him that he would catch up. I didn't argue much, my mind more on wanting to get out of the creepy cemetery as soon as possible. I had the impression Sam wanted to give us some time, following Dean's discomfort at the grave.

By the time we pulled up in front of Clay's house, it was late and all the lights in the house were off. Dean killed the engine and sat staring at the house for a moment.

"Hey, you okay?" I questioned, leaning closer to him. He nodded silently, still watching the house.

"Yeah..." he said after a moment.

When he looked back at me, I could see the hesitation in his eyes, the uncertainty.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just… man. That could have been me, you know?" He said.

"What? Dean, this is a completely different situation," I pointed out.

"Is it?" He asked. "I mean, we don't know who's raised this guy, or why. We didn't know that about me either. I didn't know if I was demon spawned, or something else when I crawled out of that hole. I could've… I would never have forgiven myself if I'd hurt you."

"Dean, this is a _completely_ different situation," I reiterated. "And you would never do anything to hurt me."

Even as I said it, we both knew that as much as we wanted it to be true – Dean's intentions versus the reality of what he'd been through in Hell, and the aftermath that followed, were two different things. He didn't mean to, but he did hurt me after his return from Hell – several times, and he struggled with that knowledge every day.

I reached a hand out to cup his cheek, leaning forward to press my lips against his in a soft kiss. "Come on, let's just go check the house. We can deal with the rest once we know what's going on."

With a small sigh, he nodded, pressing his face back into the palm of my hand and closing his eyes for a heartbeat.

"Okay," he agreed.

It didn't take much to pick the lock and get entry. Within moments we were stepping into a dark foyer, ears peeled for so much as a mouse. But all was quiet.

I closed the door behind us, following Dean as he led the way into a modest living room sporting a fireplace. Shining my flashlight up on the mantle, I saw at least a dozen framed photographs of Clay and a woman and children, happily smiling for the camera.

Dean paused, looking over at me and inclined his head toward the kitchen to our left. I nodded, and separated from him, moving with silent ease from one room to the other. I flicked my light around, seeing white cabinets, the countertops were pristine and bare, not a dirty dish in sight. Suddenly, behind me I heard a smash as something hit a mirror or window.

Springing into action, I hurried back toward Dean, raising the shotgun I was carrying and taking aim. As I rounded the corner, I saw Dean punch a man in the stomach, and he fell to the floor.

"Don't shoot me! Please! There's money in the safe," the man said, holding his hands up in the air and cowering before us.

"We don't want your money," Dean said. The man looked sharply up at us.

"What do you want? Anything. Please..." he ducked his head back down again, but I was sure I was seeing it right. This was the same man in the licence photo… in the pictures on the mantle; the only difference was that he seemed awfully pale skinned.

"You're Clay Thompson, right?" I asked.

He looked up at me, and I pointed the light away so it wasn't in his eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked, raising slowly to his feet, his eyes locked on me.

"Um, FBI," I replied, caught off guard.

"FBI? Oh, my God. This is about Benny," he said calmly.

"Wha… what about Benny?" Dean asked beside me.

"He killed me! He shot me in the back! I'm supposed to let him get away with that?" He said, throwing his arms out to the side. I was stunned, he wasn't behaving like any zombie I'd ever seen.

"Hold up," Dean said, frowning at the man. "Are… are you confessing?"

"Please. I'll go with you. Just… just don't wake my kids," Clay said. Dean turned to look at me, the confusion plain in his eyes. I didn't even know where to start, I just kept the gun pointed at him as my brain spun its wheels to catch up.

"Y-you'll go with us where?" I asked.

"Jail," Clay said.

"Let me get this straight. You're Clay Thompson, and you died five years ago?" Dean said.

"Yes."

"And three days ago you climbed out of your grave, and you killed Benny Sutton?"

"Yes," Clay nodded.

"So you are, in fact, a dead guy," Dean finished, tossing me another look.

"I guess. I – I – I don't know what I am," Clay replied. I was feeling worse by the minute. Something was terribly wrong here. Zombies didn't act _human._ They killed without remorse or thought; they didn't hold conversations; they didn't rationalise their actions with other people.

"Clay?" A woman's voice sounded from the hallway, and I spun around to see a pretty blonde standing in the arch to the livingroom, arms wrapped around herself. "I called 911."

"It's okay, honey. These people are the FBI. They're here about Benny," Clay responded, holding his hand out toward his wife.

Dean was thinking in overdrive. I could practically read his mind as he considered all the angles, the options, and the careful consideration of what we would have to do next. We had a walking, talking living corpse in front of us… every instinct in our bodies was to kill it.

"Why don't you come with us, Mr. Thompson? I think that'd be best," Dean said finally.

Clay nodded, and took a moment to reassure his wife that things would be all right. I swallowed back a lump in my throat as we followed the man down the steps of his own home toward the Impala. Dean was one step ahead of me, and I hurried to reach out as he pulled his pistol from under his jacket.

"Dean," I said, my voice urging caution. "I don't know…"

"He's a monster," Dean replied.

"He's a… soccer dad," I responded..

"What do you want to do with him?" Dean asked.

I didn't get a chance to respond as a light suddenly shone in my eyes.

"Freeze!" I heard Sheriff Mills yell. "Drop your guns!"

"Whoa," Dean exclaimed, raising a hand up to the light in his eyes. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. All right. Hey." We were looking down the barrel of a gun, and I quickly moved to put my own on the ground, Dean copying.

"Remember the guy you said that was dead and couldn't possibly commit murder? There he is," Dean said, pointing to Clay.

Mills holstered her gun, glancing from Dean to Clay, and then back again.

"And?" She asked.

"'And'?" Dean scoffed. "And you're welcome – for catching the undead killer zombie."

"Whatever he is or isn't, that don't give you the right to shoot him in the middle of the street," Mills said, walking quickly behind Dean and grabbing his arms. She slapped a cuff around one wrist, and then the other before I could so much as protest.

"Shoot me?" Clay exclaimed.

"You're free to go, Mr. Thompson," Mills said.

"Free to go?!" Dean said.

"I can't believe you were gonna kill me," Clay argued, looking at Dean. The latter spluttered, looking at me in disbelief.

"You're a zombie!"

"I'm a taxpayer!" Clay retorted.

I couldn't even get a word out. I was flabbergasted, seeing Dean cuffed, and then finding myself in the same situation a moment later. Sam came round the corner in a car he'd obviously stolen, and cruised past us, taking in the scene before shaking his head and continuing on.

"Well this is just great," Dean muttered next to me as Mills pushed us toward the squad car.

* * *

 _ **Jail Cell**_

At least we'd been locked up together. I felt my chest constrict a little at the thought of what might happen if these overzealous, zombie loving cops were to figure out who we were. Yes, our records had been expunged – mostly – thanks to Henrikson, but I couldn't help but worry that there was some _real_ FBI agents out there looking for us. If they found us, this could be the last time I would get to see my husband.

I took a couple of short breaths, closed my eyes, and worked to calm my nerves.

"Hey, hey," Dean said, seeing the action. He stood up, coming to place his hands on my arms, squeezing softly. "Have you seen this cell? We could get out of here with our eyes closed and one arm tied behind our back. Not to mention that Sam is out there working on springing us right now."

"I know," I said with a soft breath. "I… I know."

Dean sighed, and pulled me into his arms, locking them around my back.

"You know I can pick the lock right now if it makes you feel any better," he murmured into my hair. I couldn't help but smile, giggling a little as I pulled back enough so I could look at his eyes.

"No, that's okay," I said. "But maybe later."

He nodded solemnly, looking at me and then out toward the swinging doors separating us from the open office beyond.

"So, what? Sheriff's on the take?" He asked, stepping back slightly, but not letting go of my arms.

"I don't think so," I said, shaking my head. "You really think the zombies are paying her off?"

Dean shrugged, kissing my forehead and then moving to sit down again.

"I don't know!" He announced, throwing his arms in the air. My focus was suddenly on the room next to us as an officer breezed past the cell with a handcuffed man in front of him, and pushed open the doors. I saw two familiar faces, one which turned to look at me with a frown, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey," I said, glancing at Dean. "It's Sam."

Dean leaned forward, taking in our tall brother standing by a desk, and next to him was none other than Bobby, speaking to Sheriff Mills as she leaned against her desk.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked.

"So, what?" Dean agreed. "Now they're friends?"

As if they'd heard us, Bobby and Mills both turned to look through the open doors at us, and there was a resignation in both their shoulders that told me this was a story that had a lot of complications to it.

 _ **Police Station**_

A short while later we were free of the cell, and Sam was wheeling Bobby toward the exit, Dean and I following closely behind.

"Bobby, I thought the Sheriff hated you," I said as we rounded a corner and out of sight of the officers in the main room.

"She did," Bobby said, his mouth twitched upwards. "Until five days ago."

"What happened five days ago?" Dean asked. He looked over at me, I was already doing the math, we'd only been gone a week at best, missing this latest phenomenon by a matter of days.

"The dead started rising all over town," Bobby replied. Sam looked astonished at our surrogate father.

"So you knew about this?" Sam asked.

"Yep."

Dean rolled his eyes and turned to look at Bobby.

"I think what Sam meant to say is, you _lied_ to us?"

Bobby sighed, his hands dropping down to the wheels on his chair so he could push himself ahead of us, and spin around.

"Look," he said. "I told you there was nothing here. And there isn't. Not for you."

He was telling us was there wasn't a hunt. I wasn't so sure.

"Bobby, that's not exactly true…" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Sam cleared his throat as an officer walked past us, our voices falling silent for the moment.

"There are zombies here," Dean added, as soon as we were in the clear again.

"There are _zombies_... And then there are zombies. Come with me," Bobby said. With that he turned and wheeled out of the police station.

"What the hell is going on here?" Dean asked as we stared after him.

"I don't know, but something tells me we're about to find out," I replied, taking his arm and slipping mine through it. "Come on."

* * *

 _ **Bobby's House**_

Sam had driven Bobby back to the house, Dean and I not far behind in the Impala.

"I don't like it," Dean said as we pulled up and Sam helped Bobby get inside. "I got the heebie jeebies like the boogie man is about to jump out of the closet at us."

"Yeah…" I agreed, looking up at the front porch with a frown. "Look, we just gotta stay alert, whatever this is, we will figure it out and we'll deal with it."

Dean turned to smile at me, leaning over to kiss my lips quickly. "At least there's two of us with our heads on straight around here."

I smiled in reply, looking back to the house as Sam appeared on the porch, looking at us with a frustrated shrug of his shoulders.

"We're being summoned," I said with a nod. Dean looked at his brother and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah… we're coming," he muttered, and with that, pushed open the driver door and climbed out of the car. "God I'm tired," he added as we entered the house.

Bobby was waiting for us in the entrance, and turned to lead us into the library when we joined Sam.

"So, uh, Bobby…. You want to tell us what the hell…." Dean's voice dropped off as a young woman with softly curled blonde hair and pale skin walked into the room from the kitchen, carrying a plate, which she placed on the dining table, now occupying the centre of the library with a tablecloth on it.

"Oh, hey," she said, with a big smile, her eyes darting between Bobby and the rest of us. "I didn't realize you were bringing company."

My stomach sank.

"It's four a.m., babe. You didn't need to cook," Bobby said with a little smile.

"Oh, please! I'll get some more plates," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, walking quickly back toward the kitchen.

"Who was that?" Dean asked, watching her leave.

I already knew who it was… had seen photos, heard her spoken about in many an overnight stay in this very house.

"Karen. My wife," Bobby said.

"Your… new wife?" Dean asked hopefully.

"My dead wife," Bobby clarified.

"That's Cole's mom," I added, feeling myself pale a little. "Does she know?" I added, looking at Bobby.

"Who, Cole?" Bobby asked, I nodded.

"No!" He said, shaking his head, smiling as Karen walked back into the room and started to put three more plates around the table before disappearing again. "I mean, I called her, but she ain't answering as usual…"

That had been the case with Cole for a while now, she was up to something, I could feel it in my bones, but whatever it was she was keeping her cards close to her chest. After joining us in our return trip to 1978, she'd disappeared following her near death experience. Bobby had seen her a few times, taken JJ for a week here or there, but mostly she was a lone wolf.

"You know, maybe that's for the best," Dean commented. "You know how she is around… uh… zombies."

We all grimaced, thinking about the last time we'd had to deal with a plague of zombies in North Dakota, it had been almost a decade ago, and I still couldn't get the image of Cole, her hair matted with blood and gore, out of my mind.

 _ **A short while later….**_

We hadn't slept. It had been all small talk and niceties with Karen in the room, and then she'd noticed how sleepy we were starting to look and offered to get us an early breakfast.

I could feel the fatigue eating away at me as I watched the morning start to light up the sky over the horizon through the window over Bobby's bed. The mattress felt comfortable under me, but I refused to lie down. An uneasiness had settled into my bones and I was chilled, even as warm streaks of pink and gold flashed up from the mountains.

Dean, Sam and Bobby were all seated around the dining table; Dean was digging into a helping of apple pie as Karen fussed over us all.

"Mmmm… mmmm!" Dean said, swallowing a mouthful of apple and smiling at Karen. "This is incredible, Mrs. Singer."

"Thank you, Dean," she smiled back at him, moving to place another piece of pie on an empty plate in front of Bobby.

Sam frowned at Dean's enthusiastic comment and Dean flashed him a pointed look. "What?" He asked, looking at the pie. "It is."

"It's great, Karen," Bobby said as Karen served him his share of the pie. "Thanks. Could you, um, just give us a minute?"

Karen nodded, flashing the boys a smile before leaving the library and closing the pocket doors into to the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, the boys pounced.

"Are you crazy?!" Dean asked. "What the hell?"

"Dean, I can explain," Bobby placated.

"Explain what? Lying to us? Or the American girl zombie making cupcakes in your kitchen?!" Dean snapped.

Bobby glared at Dean, leaning in with a warning glance. "First of all, that's my wife, so watch it."

"Bobby, whatever that thing is in there, it is not your wife," Sam pointed out.

"And how do you know that?" Bobby asked.

"Are you serious?" Sam asked.

"You think I'm an idiot, boy? My dead wife shows up on my doorstep, I'm not gonna test her every way I ever learned?" Bobby chastised. I frowned, dropping off the bed to the floor and moving to sit at the remaining seat by the table.

"She doesn't look like anything we've ever seen," I pointed out. "They almost look… normal… yet…" Not. There was something off about it.

"So what is it? Zombies? Revenant?" Dean asked.

"Hell if I can tell. She's got no scars, no wounds, no reaction to salt, silver, holy water…"

"Just like you," I said to Dean, swallowing hard.

"Uh, I think it's _a lot_ different to me!" Dean protested. "We now know what raised me, and why." He turned to Bobby.

"Bobby, she crawled out of her coffin," Dean muttered.

"No, she didn't. I cremated her. Somehow, some way, she's back," Bobby replied. I felt my gut sink.

"That's impossible," I said.

"Tell me about it," Bobby agreed.

"You bury her ashes?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Bobby said. "In the cemetery. That's where they all rose from."

Dean locked eyes with mine. "You thinking what I'm thinking? Your favourite movie," he joked, grinning at me. "Good old Pet Cemetery."

I shuddered. "Shut up Dean, this isn't funny."

"You're right," Sam agreed. "It's not."

"How many have risen?" I asked Bobby. We had to get a handle on this before it got worse.

"15, 20, I made a list," he said, reaching into his shirt pocket and pulling out a piece of paper, handing it to Sam. "Uh, there's Karen... Clay... Sheriff Mills – her little boy came back."

"And there's been no signs?" I asked, "no omens?"

"Well, there were the lightning storms," Bobby said. Dean threw his hand in the air, dropping it back on to the table in frustration.

"That's what we said. What else?" He asked.

Bobby looked around the table at all of us, seeing that he wasn't going to get away with sticking his head in the sand. With a couple pushes on his chair, he was at the desk and reaching for a large, old Bible. I recognised it from years of flipping through its dusty pages.

Turning to a page where he'd bookmarked with a post-it note, Bobby started to read.

"And through the fire stood before me a pale horse. And he that sat atop him carried a scythe, and I saw since he had risen…"

I cut in, I knew it. "and they, too, shall rise," I finished, "and from him and through him. It's Revelations."

"So, what, Death is behind this?" Dean asked, frowning.

"Death, Death? Like "Grim Reaper" death?" Sam asked.

"It would make sense," I said with a short nod. "We've had War… Famine…"

"Yeah," Bobby agreed.

Dean wearily ran his hand over his eyes, rubbing at them. I could feel the exhaustion, the resignation rippling off him. "Awesome. Another horseman. Must be Thursday."

"Bobby…" Sam said, standing up and walking around to the desk, picking up the bible where it had been placed back down. "Why would Death raise 15 people in a podunk town like Sioux Falls?"

"I don't know," Bobby said with a shrug.

"You know, if Death is behind this, then whatever these things are... it's not good," Dean said. He looked at Bobby, seeing the reality sink in. I bit my lip, my heart breaking at the vulnerable look on Bobby's face. "You know what we have to do here," Dean added.

"She doesn't remember anything, you know," Bobby said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking up sharply.

"Being possessed, attacking Cole… me killing her... her coming back," Bobby replied.

"Bobby…" Dean said.

"No, no, don't "Bobby" me," came the reply, Bobby's face twisting into a resigned look. "Just... just listen, okay?" He tilted his head toward the kitchen. In the other room we could hear Karen moving around, humming to herself.

"She hums when she cooks."

"Yeah?" Dean asked softly.

"She always... used to hum when she cooked. Tone deaf as all hell, but... And I never thought I would hear it again."

I sucked in a short breath at the comment, Dean turned to look at me and I bit my lip. I knew _exactly_ what Bobby was going through. The DVD of us that Dean had made for me on our honeymoon, had been the only thing getting me through the time he'd been in Hell. And yet it almost broke me, the reminder of what was missing from my life when he was gone. I didn't want to think about losing him ever again.

"Look, just read Revelation," Bobby said. "Beth, you know it inside out, you know the dead rise during the apocalypse. There's nothing in there that says that's bad! Hell, maybe it's the one good thing that comes out of this whole bloody mess."

"And what would you do if you were us?" Dean was asking.

"I know what I'd do. And I know what you think you got to do. But... I'm begging you. Please. Please. Leave her be," Bobby said, his voice breaking and tears welling in his eyes.

* * *

 _ **Diner**_

We'd gotten out of there. It was too much to take, and seeing Bobby beg for Karen's life wasn't doing any of us any good.

I was sitting next to Dean at the diner's counter, my hands wrapped around my coffee mug as I stared into the milky brown substance. I desperately needed the caffeine to clear my sleep deprived head, and beside me Dean stifled a yawn as he nursed his own coffee.

"So, what are you thinking?" He asked, looking at me.

I swallowed hard before I raised my eyes up to his. I was choking on the whole thing, and I knew it.

"I don't know Dean…" I started. "I mean, if it were you, and the situation reversed…"

"You'd do what had to be done," he insisted.

"Would I?" I questioned. "I'm not so sure about that. I keep thinking back to when you were in Hell. I'd have done anything… _anything,_ to get you back. And you just showed up on my doorstep…not all that different to this…"

Dean bit his lip and reached out to take my shaking hands in his.

"... I don't know Dean," I whispered. "I don't know that I could do it."

"This is different," he said.

"How?" I asked. "Because an angel raised you?" He nodded.

"We don't know that this is all that different."

"They've been raised by Death," he countered. "Death isn't an angel."

"Did you see Bobby's face?" I changed the subject, looking down at Dean's hand holding mine. "Haven't we been through enough?"

He didn't have an answer for me. We sat, looking at each other forlornly while Sam returned to his seat after having been to the bathroom.

"So, what do you think?" Sam asked, his gaze taking in our whole demeanour.

Dean sighed, squeezing my hand lightly before picking up his mug again.

"There's nothing to think about," he said. "I'm not gonna leave Bobby at home with the bride of Frankenstein."

"Then what do you want to do? Just walk in there in front of Bobby and blow her skull off?" Sam asked with an amused look.

"He's likely to blow ours off - or am I the only one who remembers the day Bobby found out about Dad and Cole?" I asked. We'd all been a little shocked to return home to Bobby waving a shotgun at John, while Cole had been packing her truck.

Dean frowned at me, and then shook his head. "If she decides that Bobby's face is the blue plate special, I'd like to be there."

"Well, I can't even think straight I'm so tired," I said in resignation. "If we're at Bobby's we can maybe at least get in a nap."

"Fine," Sam said with a nod. "You guys head back, I'll see what else I can find out."

* * *

 _ **Bobby's Salvage Yard**_

I hadn't made it to the bedroom. Dean had decided to stake out the house from the salvage yard, and parked in amongst the scrap metal and abandoned vehicles. The sun was out when we arrived, and I was taking advantage of how unseasonably warm it was by lying on the front of the car, head up on the windshield. Beside me, Dean was leaning against the Impala, staring at the house.

"Who would have ever thought this place would be like home to us?" He asked randomly, and I chuckled with my eyes closed against the warm sun.

"There's a lot of things I never thought I'd be doing when I was a teenager, that I do now…"

Dean reached out and pulled on my legs, drawing me across the hood of the car with strong, confident hands.

"Eeek! What are you doing?" I laughed, opening my eyes and instinctively putting my hands out to catch myself on his shoulders as he drew my legs apart and then wrapped them around his waist. He grinned, and leaned in to kiss me now that he had me pressed up against him.

"This," he answered, his lips pressing to mine in a firm, decisive kiss.

"Mmm," I murmured into his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him slightly closer. "I like this."

"Uh huh," Dean agreed, tipping my chin up slightly to deepen the kiss.

Suddenly we sensed movement to my left, and jumped - me letting out a slight squeal of surprise - when Karen appeared beside us with a smile.

"Oops. Did I scare you?" She asked, looking kindly from me to Dean as he hurriedly pulled away from me and ran a sheepish hand through his hair.

"No. No. No. There's... nothing scary about you at all," he said with slight sarcasm.

"Feel like some lunch?" Karen asked.

"Uh... we're good. Thanks," Dean replied.

She smirked dismissively at him and inclined her head toward the house, starting to walk away. "Come on, there's more pie."

I exchanged a confused look with Dean and slid off the car.

"Um, I'm not sure that Bobby wants us inside," I said, moving to stand next to Dean.

Karen stopped and smiled back at us. "Guess it'll have to be our secret, then, huh? Come on."

Inside, Bobby was asleep in the armchair in the library. Karen ushered us into the kitchen and cut a piece of cherry pie for Dean, presenting it to him on a plate. She slid the doors to the kitchen closed and Dean leaned up against a desk that had been moved to make room for the dining table in the library.

Karen smiled, passing me a plate of pie as well, and I returned the smile, glancing around the kitchen. Every surface had a pie on it, or the beginnings of one. I frowned, considering this scene.

Dean took a bite of his pie and cleared his throat after swallowing. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you like pies. Did you bake all these?"

"I don't know what it is. Since I got back, I can't stop baking," Karen said.

Obsessive behaviours linked to the past, I thought. Routines that we held onto in life.

"You bake all these from scratch? When do you find time to sleep?" I asked.

"I don't. Must be the excitement," Karen said.

 _Well, at least that explained the 4am pie baking._

"Or being dead," Dean replied, deadpan.

Karen paused at the bench where she was rolling out pastry. I watched her hesitate, her hands shaking slightly as she contemplated her reply.

"I know you don't trust me," she said, turning around to look at Dean.

"Why would you say that?" He asked.

"Come on, Dean. That's why you're here, isn't it? Keeping an eye on me? I know who you are. Just like I know Bobby's not the same mild-mannered scrap dealer I married. You hunt things…" She glanced at Dean and then me. She was exceptionally calm, as if she'd been giving this all a lot of thought.

"I – I'm a thing. I get it," she said.

"So then you know that Sam, and Beth, and I would never let anything happen to Bobby. That he's like a father to us," Dean said.

"I understand. And he's lucky to have you looking out for him, Dean. But you're not the only one," she replied.

"Is that so?" He said.

"That's right," a voice sounded behind me from the other doorway into the hall. I jumped, silently cursing myself that she'd managed to sneak up on me. I turned to see Cole leaning up against the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

"Cole?" I asked. "When did you get here?"

"A few hours ago," she said, taking a deep breath. "Dad… and Mom… they filled me in on what's going on around here."

"Yeah well, that's just peachy," Dean muttered. "And… you're on board with all this?" He put his pie down on the table and moved toward Cole and I.

"On board with what, Dean?" Cole countered, her eyes flashing. "With my Mom being alive?"

"With your mom being a zombie," Dean pushed.

"Guys…" I felt myself shrinking in the wake of their bravado.

"Dad's tested her!" Cole retorted. "She's not anything we've ever seen before!"

"That doesn't mean this is a good thing!" Dean snapped.

"Yeah? Well, I'll tell you one thing _Dean,_ you're gonna have to go through me!"

"Don't tempt me," he growled.

"Just like your father," Cole snarled back. "If he were here… if it were him standing in front of you…"

"I'd be saying the exact same thing, sometimes dead things should stay dead!" Dean cut in.

Cole sucked in a breath and scowled at him before looking at me.

"Well… I guess it's a good thing Beth never felt the same way, isn't it?" She said, her voice going cold and hard.

"You guys, this isn't the time," I said softly, biting on my lip.

"This isn't the same thing," Dean added, though I could see him wavering. His eyes darted toward me, then over to Karen. He ran a frustrated hand over his face and sighed, turning back to Karen.

"I remember everything, you know," Karen said, cutting in, drawing our attention away from the conflict. "When I died. That demon taking over my body... and the things it made me do." She looked sorrowfully at Cole. "How it made me attack my beautiful baby girl."

Cole looked pained and pushed past me to hug her mother. "It's okay Mom."

Karen took a moment to wrap her arms around Cole, burying her face in the woman's rich blonde curls. After a few deep breaths she pulled back, nodding at Cole.

"Bobby had no choice but to... Well, you know what he did. But I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me. The guilt. It weighs on him."

"So why don't you just tell him you remember?" Dean asked. My mouth twitched upwards.

Karen smiled at him indulgently. "He's my husband. My job is to bring him peace... not pain." She looked over at me.

"If the situation were reversed, wouldn't you want to save Beth from having to live with that kind of guilt? To save her the hurt you were going through? That's what love does, Dean."

It was exactly the same reason Dean hadn't told us about his Hell memories, until it had become apparent there was more to it than he was letting on. Sighing, Dean nodded and crossed his arms unhappily.

"Okay, fine. But this isn't normal," he said, looking at me. "Let's go find Sam, I need some air."

* * *

 _ **Diner**_

We'd met Sam in town after he'd been going around to the homes of some of the people who had risen. He'd just narrowly escaped a rabid Mrs Jones when the woman had launched herself at him, trying to chew his face off.

"I'm telling you guys, this is bad news," Sam said, leaning heavily on the table.

"Okay, slow down, tell us what happened," I said, reaching out a hand to pat him on the arm.

"Okay," Sam said, sucking in a breath and falling silent as the waitress brought us the coffees we'd ordered. When she left, Sam looked from me to Dean, and shook his head.

"So I went to a couple of these people's places - most of them were fine. Living normal, ordinary lives, aside from the fact that they were dead a week ago."

"Right, so no indications of anything bad?" I asked.

"At first, no, I mean even the Sheriff and her little boy… I saw them through a window, they were all sitting on a couch and reading a book," Sam replied.

"Yeah, but not Mrs Jones?" Dean asked, frowning as he took it all in.

"No. She was… sick, or something?" Sam said. "There was blood on the front step when I got there, so I let myself in expecting the worst. I found her in the living room on a daybed, coughing - she looked like she had the flu or something."

"Huh," I said, sipping on my coffee. "Did she talk to you?"

"Barely. She couldn't get a word out, kept gesturing for me to come closer," Sam replied

"Well that ain't ever gonna end well," Dean chimed in. Sam chuckled and nodded at his brother.

"That's exactly what I said! And before I know it, she's pushed me across the room and jumped on me, all teeth and … drool." Sam grimaced, wiping his perfectly clean face, as if he was reliving the moment when she'd slobbered all over him.

"She was rabid," Sam said. "I had to shoot her in the head. And when she fell down on the floor, that's when I saw the husband."

"Dead?" Dean asked.

"Eaten," Sam said, taking a big gulp of his coffee.

"Ew," Dean said, grimacing. "Oh I'm glad that was you and not me."

"Yeah, thanks," Sam said, sighing. "So… what about you guys, you find anything?"

Dean shook his head and leaned back in the booth, groaning.

"Well, Wonder Woman is on the scene, all hellfire and brimstone," he said.

"Cole?" Sam asked. "Cole's here?"

"At the house," I said with a nod. "She arrived a few hours ago."

"How is she?" Sam asked.

"How do you think she is?" Dean asked. "She's delusional, just like Bobby."

Sam sighed.

"Yeah, it doesn't look good. We should check some of the other people on this list," he replied.

"It's getting dark," I pointed out as the sun started to dip below the horizon. "We should probably talk to Bobby and Cole first."

"Oh I am not looking forward to that conversation," Dean muttered. His scowl turned to a smile as the waitress walked over, balancing three burgers on plates which she placed in front of us.

"Thank you very much," Dean said, reaching for his almost immediately. "Hello beautiful," he added to the burger. "Have you missed me?"

Sam and I laughed, watching as he took a big bite, relishing the delicate balance of flavours.

"Oh… mmmm… this is…" Dean talked around his mouthful of food. "Heaven."

* * *

 _ **Bobby's House - later**_

"Keep your damn voices down. Karen's upstairs with JJ," Bobby said as we all piled into the library.

"JJ?" I asked, looking out the archway to the stairs. "Is Cole with them?"

"Yeah, she is. What the hell is wrong with you lot?"

Dean scowled at him, lowering his voice as he took a step closer to Bobby.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We're a little tense right now. Who's old lady Jones?"

Bobby stopped short, facing us and frowning. "The first one to come up."

That had been what we suspected. There hadn't been much order to Bobby's list, but old Mrs Jones had been at the top of it. I'd assumed that he'd written them down in order of their rising.

"First one to go bad," Sam pointed out the obvious.

Bobby waved it off with a huff. "Ah, she was always a nutty broad."

"Nutty how?" Dean countered. "Nutty like the way she ate her husband's stomach? Was that the level of nutty she was in life?"

"No," he said softly.

It was a low blow, but had to be done. Bobby hadn't heard the news, and as it sank in, we could see the shift in his attitude.

I heard the creak in the bottom stair, and turned to see Cole listening in. She had her arms crossed over her body, a wariness to her posture as she moved silently into the library.

"Look, Bobby, I feel for you. But you have got to acknowledge that you're not exactly seeing this straight!" Dean pushed.

"Bobby, whether you admit it or not, these things are turning. We have to stop them – all of them," Sam added.

"Sam's right," Dean agreed. "This is about to all go bad, we're sitting on a ticking time bomb here."

"Dean, I don't care what you think, this is my family you're talking about. And I'm warning you, make one move to hurt my mom… I'll put you back in the ground myself, you hearing me?" Cole threatened, her eyes dark.

Without warning Bobby pulled a gun out from beside him in the chair and resting it on his lap.

I pushed off from where I'd been leaning against the door and frowned.

"Bobby what are you doing?" I asked.

"Time to go," he announced. The look on his face was chilling, he was dead serious.

"What?" Dean questioned,his mouth dropping open with a look of surprise.

"You heard me," Bobby said. "Off my property."

My heart was racing. This wasn't the first time we'd had that kind of ultimatum here, but the last time it had been John on the receiving end, not us.

"Or what? You'll shoot?" Sam asked sadly.

It seemed absurd!

" _If_ Karen turns, I will handle it _my_ way," Bobby's voice was stilted, and he clearly was struggling to keep a handle on his temper.

"This is dangerous," Dean said.

"He's right," I agreed, turning to look at Cole. "For God's sake Cole, think of JJ… "

"We're fine," Cole insisted, and I saw her reach to the back of her jeans, and pull out her own pistol, holding it beside her leg.

Dean scowled and moved to put himself between me and Cole, glaring at her.

"You want to start aiming that thing around Cole, you better make real sure you know who you're dealing with," he said darkly.

"Dean…" I reached out, touching his arm and shaking my head.

Bobby cocked his gun, the click rang out in the room.

"I'm not telling you twice," he said.

"Okay fine," Dean said. "We're going. But _when_ this all goes pear shaped, it's on you Shortstack!" He punctuated the statement by pointing his finger at Cole.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing," Sam said sadly.

"Cole," I said, turning to her. "Don't leave JJ alone with her, huh? You're putting him in danger."

"Don't tell me how to parent my own kid Beth," Cole snapped. "You've got no idea what you're talking about."

"At least I'm _thinking_ about your kid!" I retorted, stepping past Dean toward her.

 _Crack!_

The sound of Cole's hand connecting with my cheek resounded through the room. Dean's arms, trembling with tension, came around me and he pushed me sideways into the hallway. He looked as if he might kill Cole, so I shook my head slightly at him and gripped his arm tightly so he wouldn't leave my side.

"What the hell?" Sam exclaimed.

"Get out," Cole said, this time she raised her gun at Dean and I.

"Watch yourself sister," Dean threatened.

I tossed Cole a furious look, saying, "so much family..." It was a low blow, and Bobby's face crumpled at the comment, but I was done. "I guess blood really is thicker..."

I didn't wait for a reply. I pulled away from Dean and walked out the front door toward the car. I didn't look back, not this time.

Suddenly this place didn't feel like home at all. It was just a mountain of painful memories - and I couldn't get away fast enough.

* * *

 _ **Impala**_

As soon as we were out of the salvage yard and down the road half a mile, Dean pulled over to the side of the road, reaching out to touch cup my still stinging cheek in his hand.

"You okay?"

"That was crazy!" Sam said from the back.

"I swear I'm gonna…"

"I'm okay," I cut in. I felt like my heart was breaking in two. But we had a job to do.

Dean moved his hand to get me to look at him, watching with eyes full of concern. I stared back at him, feeding all my emotions into that exchange and after a moment he sighed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," I whispered back.

"None of this is okay," Sam muttered, sitting back in his seat and running a hand through his hair. "So they go _Full Metal Jacket_ on us? We're their family.."

"Not anymore," I said quietly.

"Okay, let's not get carried away," Dean said, looking back at Sam. "Family is family, whether we're talking or not."

"So what now?" Sam asked. "Do we go back there?"

"No," Dean said with a short shake of his head. "The way I see it, there's two of them and one zombie. They're hunters, they can handle this. And we got a bunch of zombies about to turn this town into a giant chew toy,"

"So, then we head to town and rescue everyone else?" Sam asked.

"Sounds like," Dean snorted.

"It's a big list, we're gonna need some help," Sam said.

"We can talk to the Sheriff," I offered. If nothing else, she'd at least seemed fairly competent at her job.

"Uh, last time I checked, the sheriff was pretty pro-zombie," Sam commented, looking at me.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to convince her," I said with a smile. "Use those puppy dog eyes to our advantage Sammy."

Sam rolled his eyes at the comment, but leaned forward with a smile. "Okay then. We stick together, let's do this."

* * *

 _ **Sheriff Mills' House**_

As we pulled up to the house it was quiet outside. The front porch light was on, and the curtains to the living room were still open. Inside, we could see the Sheriff's son silhouetted against a light inside. It was hard to make out what was going on, but the way the kid was standing, moving, was enough to put Sam on high alert.

"Come on," he said, getting out of the back seat quickly and approaching the door.

Dean and I climbed out, going to the trunk and opening the armory. Shotguns, they would come in handy, it was as if we were reading each other's minds. But in reality, we'd just done this so much over the years that it was second nature.

"I know you're not okay," Dean said, opening the barrel and emptying it of rock salt shells, only to replace the bullets with real ones.

"Dean…"

"We'll talk about it later," he added. I stopped what I was doing and looked at him through watery eyes.

"Okay," I whispered back.

"Dammit," he cursed, wrapping his free arm around me and pulling me in to plant a kiss against my forehead. "I'm sorry, that was not right..."

I sniffed back the hurt, and nodded, closing my eyes for a moment as I leaned in to him. "Yeah, but she's hurting too."

"It's not an excuse," he answered curtly.

I looked up and smiled at him, getting a smile in return. Just as Sam and Mills came running out of the house, Sam practically pushing her as she frantically tried to go back inside.

"My husband!"

"Leave it!" Sam said, holding her. "He's dead!"

She froze, sucking in a breath as Dean and I joined them.

"That was not my son!" Mills said.

"You're right. It wasn't," Sam said.

"Listen, Sheriff. Your town is in danger. People are in danger, and we need to help them now," Dean cut in, straight to the point.

"Can you do that for us?" Sam asked as the Sheriff shook her head in combined disbelief and horror. "Can you focus for me, Sheriff?"

Mills was glancing furiously between the house and the street, to the car, to Sam, and then back to the house. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling on it as if it were the only thing keeping her sane.

"Sheriff?" I asked gently, putting a hand on her arm. "Are you with us?"

Mills seemed to snap out of her thoughts with the contact, and looked at me, then asked "how do we put them down?

"Head shot," Sam replied.

Mills nodded, and then finally seemed to kick into officer mode. "We're gonna need weapons," she said. Dean and I held our shotguns in the air and shrugged.

"We can start by rounding up everybody we can find," Sam suggested. "Where is there a safe place we can take people?"

Mills thought about it for a moment and then replied, "jail."

"Right," I said with a nod. "Good."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Just, um…" He hesitated, taking out his gun and looking sadly at the Sheriff. "...give me a minute."

Mills looked as if she was going to argue for a moment, taking a step toward Sam. I thought maybe she wanted to do it herself, but then she stopped, looking down at the gun in Sam's hands.

I looked at Dean who was frowning at the thought of what had to happen next. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when the Sheriff stepped back, nodding for Sam to continue.

"Come on," I said as Sam walked toward the house. "We'll drive you to the station."

As we turned to the Impala a gunshot was heard coming from the house. I jumped, as did Mills, a startled gasp escaping her mouth as she blinked back tears.

* * *

 _ **Police Station**_

Sam had taken control of the situation, which was not common for us. Dean was uncharacteristically quiet. He'd called Bobby once we got there, but hadn't gotten an answer. He was on the phone to Cole this time, I didn't expect her to pick up any more than Bobby had.

Mills had the cabinet in the rear of the station open, and was taking out guns for the people in the room. I stared at the mismatched group of people- anything from young teens, to parents, to children and elderly and a handful of able-bodied adults who might actually be able to get the job done.

"All right, if I hand you a gun and you see a dead person, I don't care if it's your friend, your neighbor, or your wife, you shoot for the head. That's the only way we survive," he said, and as he finished he handed a rifle to the man next to him.

"Uh, you mind telling us who the hell you are?" He asked.

"Friend of Bobby Singer's," Sam replied with a smile.

The man smirked. "Town drunk."

Sam's smile dropped. "No, I – I thought… he was the town drunk," he said, nodding at Digger Wells who was sitting in a chair.

"Who told you that?" The man asked.

"Bobby Singer…." Sam said. You could have heard a pin drop it was such a strange comment to make. Clearly no one in Sioux Falls saw Bobby the way we did; and that was exactly the point, I told myself.

"Okay, everyone stay sharp," Sam announced, grabbing his gun from the desk he'd left it sitting on. "I'll watch the front door."

With that Dean started walking toward the back of the station and I followed behind.

"What makes you think they're going to come after us here?" I asked as we took position by the exit.

"I have no idea," he replied. "There's a lot of people in town…"

We fell silent for a moment, watching as Sam stalked through the room behind us, checking windows. He met our gaze and shook his head.

It was dead.

"You know, the last time we were in a situation like this… I was asking you to marry me," Dean said with a grin. "In fact, that was almost 2 years ago to the day."

I gaped at him.

"What?" He asked, suddenly looking a little self-conscious.

I chuckled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You never cease to amaze me," I whispered softly.

He blushed slightly, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looked down at his feet. It was as if he knew he'd done something right, something he thought he got wrong most of the time - but nothing could have been further from the truth.

I looked out the window of the door again and sighed. "Something's not right."

Suddenly Dean's phone started ringing, and he pulled it out of his pocket, looking curiously at me as he flipped it open. "This better be good Cole."

There was a pause, and then I saw panic cross his face.

"Wait, wait wait… JJ… what's going on?"

My head shot up and Dean's eyes narrowed. "Okay, just sit tight, all right? We're on our way."

As he hung up the phone he shared a worried look with me, calling out "Sammy!"

Sam appeared near us with a questioningly look, the Sheriff beside him.

"Time to go," Dean said. "They're not coming here."

"Well where are they?" Sam asked.

I was already pushing through the doors, heading toward the Impala.

"Where do you think?" Dean replied, hurrying to the car and sliding into the driver seat. Sam and Mills followed, and got in the back seat, I joined Dean in the front with a heightened sense of urgency. The night seemed vast and angry, and we were too far from the fight.

* * *

 _ **Bobby's House**_

The ground was littered with corpses when we arrived. Bobby's van was abandoned, Dean giving it a quick search over. It was too quiet - no gunfire, nothing.

"Where are they?" I asked, looking around, my shotgun pressed to my shoulder in ready for an attack.

"Check inside," Dean said. "Sam, Sheriff, you guys check the perimeter."

I didn't wait for further instructions, moving quickly up the steps. Steady. Careful. We didn't know what we were about to walk into.

Dean motioned for me to move down the hallway toward the kitchen, and he veered to the side to go through the library.

There was a commotion ahead, and my heart started to thunder in my chest. I rounded the hallway to the end of the line, where an old broom closet was located, and saw a good dozen people clamoring at the door.

Movement to my left, I swung the gun to find myself face to face with Dean, holding his hand up in warning. I let out a breath and dropped the gun, flashing him a look of relief. He then looked to the closet, we were completely invisible to the group of zombies hellbent on getting past the door in front of them.

Then the door opened, and I saw Cole raising the butt of a shotgun and hitting people in the face. She was clearly out of ammo.

"Get down!" Dean yelled, taking a step closer. He waited for Cole to duck back into the closet, and then shot the nearest zombie in the back of the head.

I took aim, letting out a breath and then squeezing the trigger on the nearest zombie to me. One by one, we took them all out. They didn't even turn around, focused solely on the people in the cupboard. It made it easy for us - the zombies were all dead inside of thirty seconds.

Then dead silence.

I caught my breath, watching as Cole stood up and looked tentatively out the door. Beside her, Bobby was in his wheelchair, looking pale and panicked. After a moment, JJ stuck his head up from behind Bobby, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his scraggly blonde hair.

"You okay?" Dean asked,

Cole nodded wordlessly, then reached out for JJ, drawing him close to her. Next to them, Bobby was staring out in silent horror.

I looked at the three of them in the closet, then all the bodies at their feet and I felt nothing but pain. I couldn't speak to them, I simply had to get out.

Reassured that JJ was safe, I turned on my heel and walked out of the house. And I kept walking, I didn't stop until I reached the car. I climbed into the familiar front seat and I sunk down low, still holding my gun for safety, but allowing myself to fade into the darkness of the Impala, and the safety it offered.

* * *

 _ **Next Day  
**_

 _ **Cemetery**_

Daylight had not shed any light on my mood. Dean, Sam, Mills and the townsfolk had worked hard, building a huge pyre in the cemetery, and then going on systematic searches of the town to make sure that we had killed all the zombies.

I found it hard to move.

Only when the fire was lit did I climb out of the Impala, walking over to where Dean was standing with Sheriff Mills and Sam. They were all staring at the flames as they licked their way up the thick wood to the wrapped corpses on top of the structure.

Seeing me approach, Dean smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his body. I welcomed the warmth, slipping my arm under his jacket and around him.

"Well, if there's any zombies left out there, we can't find them," he informed me, before turning back to the fire.

"How are the townspeople?" I asked, looking over at Mills.

"Pretty freaked out. Hell, traumatised," she replied with a shrug. "A few of them are calling the papers. As far as I can tell, nobody's believed 'em yet."

Dean nodded; this was nothing we hadn't seen before. Sometimes it was a good thing that people didn't know what went bump in the dark, it made it easier to cover up the truth when it bared it's ugly teeth.

"Would you?" Sam asked Mills, smiling a little wistfully. She immediately shook her head negatively.

"How are you holding up?" Sam questioned after a moment.

Mills opened her mouth to speak, tears welling in her eyes as she contemplated what to say. She shook her head a couple of times, looking back at Sam before shrugging softly.

Sam's soft brown eyes looked back at her sadly, and we all fell silent. There was nothing to say. It was all too hard.

"Is that everyone?" I asked finally, looking at the fire.

"All but one," Sam replied softly.

He was talking about Karen, of course. After we'd rescued Bobby, Cole and JJ from the onslaught of zombies, Bobby had kept her body there - and when we'd left to see to the rest of the town, Cole had been busily building the funeral pyre for her in the salvage yard.

* * *

 _ **Salvage Yard - Bobby's House**_

By the time we got to Bobby's, Cole and JJ were nowhere to be seen. I didn't know if they were in the house, or if she'd done a runner like she often did.

Right now, I didn't much care.

I couldn't go close to the pyre. It was all a bit too real after having burned John's body like we had. I stood back, sitting on the hood of an old car, hovering on the periphery as Dean and Sam joined Bobby at the smaller fire with Karen's body on it.

They were silent for a moment, shoulders slumped on all three of the men as if they weight of the world were bearing down on them.

Finally, Bobby spoke, turning his head sideways to look from Dean to Sam. "So, thinking maybe I should apologize for losing my head back there."

"Bobby, you don't owe us anything," Sam said.

"Hey, look, I can't even imagine what you're going through, but... At least you got to spend five days with her, right?" Dean asked.

Bobby sighed. "Right. Which makes things about a thousand times worse. She was the love of my life. How many times do I got to kill her?"

"Are you gonna be okay, Bobby?" Sam said, his eyes worried cast at the man in the wheelchair.

I bit my lip, watching him. He shook his head ever so slightly. It was devastating. I knew what it was like to lose the love of your life, I knew I wouldn't have done anything different to what he'd done. I wasn't angry with Bobby - not really - I was hurt. But then again, weren't we all?

"You boys should know... Karen told me why Death was here." Bobby said, avoiding the question.

"What do you mean?"

"I know why he took a stroll through a cemetery in the sticks of South Dakota," Bobby replied. "He came for me."

I sat up and paid attention, but I didn't go closer. I was frozen to the spot.

"What do you mean, you?" Dean asked, frowning.

"Death came for me. He brought Karen back to send me a message."

"You? Why you?" Dean pressed.

"Because I've been helping you, you sons of bitches," Bobby said, looking up at Sam. "I'm one of the reasons you're still saying no to Lucifer, Sam."

Everyone paused, Dean's brow creasing as he mulled this statement over.

"So this was like a hit on your life?" He asked after a moment.

"I don't know if they wanted to take my life or... my spirit. Either way, they wanted me out of the way," Bobby said.

"But you're gonna be all right. Right, Bobby?" Sam asked.

I couldn't hear any more.

The part about taking our spirit was more than I could contemplate right now. I wondered if Bobby could get past this… it was almost as if we had all been through more than we could bare. Even Cole.

With the thought of JJ and his mother, I took a deep breath and moved away from the pyre. No one moved to follow, and for this I was grateful.

I rounded a pile of cars in the familiar scrap yard, making my way to the makeshift gym in the old shed at the back of the property. Behind it was the garden Sam had created for Dean and I after our baby had died.

I fell to my knees in front of the magnolia tree he'd planted.

Too many years of pain and hurt.

I knew if I dug I'd find the capsule of my son's ashes. And suddenly I knew what I had to do. But I was so tired. I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to the ground. Most of the year it was grass, but this was February. There was nothing but dirt and dried leaves. I inhaled deeply of the mustiness beneath me, the dank wet ground seeping into my knees and my soul.

Beside me a shovel dug into the ground, and I looked up to see Dean.

"You might need this," he said quietly.

"How did you know?" I asked, looking at the baby angel statue covering where I'd need to dig.

"I know you," he replied simply. "And this..." he gestured to our surroundings. "... it's not home anymore."

I wouldn't cry, I told myself. I wouldn't subject myself to the pain that the last few hours had put me through.

I felt empty inside, as if I'd had everything I'd ever known ripped out of me. I nodded, looking up at the one person who'd always been there for me, my rock.

"So let's take our baby home," he said after a moment, leaning down to kiss my forehead.

Dean helped me to my feet, and then took up the shovel, ramming it into the ground. It wouldn't take long to reach the ashes. Sam rounded the corner, a range of emotions passing across his face at the sight before him.

"You need some help?" He asked finally, coming to put his arm around my shoulders and squeezing me against him. "Are you okay?"

I smiled and nodded, putting my head against his shoulder and leaning into him.

"We will be," I said after a moment.

"What about Cole? Bobby?" He asked. "This seems kind of final."

I watched Dean dig into the ground and then finally spoke. "Another time. They did what they had to do, and now I'm doing what I have to."

Sam's expression was tinged with sadness. This was not the first time he'd had to choose between his blood family, and the one Bobby provided us. Last time it had been Bobby, it had been Stanford, and rightly so. This time, I was glad he was sticking to us.

"Okay," Sam said after a while, thinking it over. "Whatever you need to do."

Dean lifted the small urn of ashes out of the hole, passing them to me, and then quickly covered the hole in. Sam watched all of this with a pained expression, as if he wanted to apologise yet again for his part in Patrick Jr's death, yet couldn't find the words.

"It's okay Sam," I whispered. "Come on."

With a nod, Dean picked up the angel statue, and together we all returned to the Impala. Sam took the ashes and settled into the back seat with them and the statue, leaving the front seat for me.

I pulled a blanket out of the trunk, and wrapped it around me in an effort to shut out the chill that was seeping into my bones.

"Did you want to say good bye?" Dean asked, nodding to the house where obviously Bobby had returned.

I swallowed, looking up at the front porch and shook my head.

"No."

I couldn't help but feel as if we'd turned a corner in our lives. One that had left us hanging on to old sentiment which would do us harm. I couldn't be angry at Bobby, he was hurting as much as any of us - and I would call him in a day or two.

Cole was another matter. Her pain was destructive when she lost control. I thought about how she'd pushed us away in the wake of John's death. Hellbent on her own personal crusade to save him from Hell. We'd done that, his soul was free of eternal damnation, just as Dean was. But he wasn't coming back, and Cole wasn't letting go.

I couldn't be a part of that self-destructive path right now.

Dean was right, we'd come around eventually, but not today.

Silently he nodded, and held the door as I climbed into the front, slipping down in the seat and snuggling into the blanket.

* * *

 _ **-EPILOGUE-**_

 _ **Blue Earth, Minnesota**_

 **Sam's POV**

When we'd left Sioux Falls I'd had no idea where we were going. I should not have been surprised to find Dean point us to Blue Earth. This was as much a home to us in our childhood, as Bobby's had been. It had been where Dean and Beth first met, where they had married, where she had come to grieve when he went to Hell.

I suppose in my own selfishness, I'd forgotten that it had also been _their home_ when they'd tried to leave hunting behind. It had been their refuge from the world until I'd pulled them back in.

Since Pastor Jim's death, the church had sat unattended by the masses. Jefferson had inherited the property from Jim, and he had given it to Dean and Beth when they married. It was a home now, not a church, though the chapel was still kept as it always had been - a welcome addition to the dwelling next door with the main house.

Inside the chapel Beth seemed right at home; almost happy, I could say.

She opened the shutters to the windows, letting the sunlight stream in through the lead-light windows. Even Dean seemed comfortable here.

I watched as they moved about the chapel, working together and placing their baby's ashes under the huge angel statue Beth had always loved so much. It sat atop a heavy wooden table, enclosed with doors, and along with the little baby angel statue, they placed both inside to keep them safe.

After a moment of looking up at the bigger angel statue, Dean took Beth's hand and whispered into her ear. She smiled back at him, and wrapped her arm around him, leaning her head into his shoulder.

I sighed. If only I'd been able to settle down here with them when they'd asked.

We would still be here, living a normal life - just like I'd always wanted.

As I took a few steps toward them, I heard Dean saying something to Beth quietly, looking at her seriously. By the time I reached them he finished with "today, tomorrow and forever."

Beth smiled back at him, kissing him softly. "Today, tomorrow and forever," she repeated after him.

With a start I realised it was the end of their wedding vows.

Then I remembered the date, and I cursed myself for forgetting.

As Dean and Beth turned to look at me, standing awkwardly in the middle of the aisle, I smiled, and then moved to embrace them both.

"Happy anniversary guys," I said. "Welcome home."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

* * *

Song is Incomplete by Backstreet Boys

Hope you enjoyed this variation of _Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid._ And yay, introduction to Jody Mills!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to write or review, I appreciate each and every comment.

Life has been busy, but good. And we're moving again in a few months so about to get hectic - not just busy! I will endeavour to get the next episode out as soon as I can :)

Welcome to the new readers - hope you're loving Dean & Beth as much as I do, and welcome to the ship.

As always - please drop me a line or a review and let me know how you liked the chapter. Many many thanks!


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